HL Deb 17 May 1989 vol 507 cc1279-80WA
Lord Swinfen

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What was the outcome of the meeting of EC Immigration Ministers and of TREVI Ministers in Madrid on 12th May.

The Earl of Arran

The meeting of Ministers responsible for immigration, attended also by a Vice-President of the Commission, was the sixth such meeting following an initiative taken during the UK Presidency in 1986 to help prepare the EC's approach to the creation of the Single Market by end 1992 so far as the movement of persons is concerned.

The meeting on 12th May took a significant step forward on asylum by instructing the official group to prepare a draft convention to deal with the so-called "refugee in orbit" problem. This would establish the criteria for determining which state should be responsible for examining an application for asylum. The meeting reviewed the other work done by officials, and in particular noted with satisfaction that the first regular bulletin on forged and false documents had been produced in April in accordance with the group's earlier recommendations. We welcome this example of solid, practical co-operation on shares operational problems.

My right honourable friend took the opportunity of the meeting to restate the Government's view of the interpretation of the relevant provisions of the Single European Act and the frontier controls of persons.

The later meeting of TREVI Ministers took further measures to enhance collaboration between European Community countries to combat terrorism and other crime. Agreement was reached on the study of forged documents, streamlined procedures for secure communications between TREVI countries, further exchanges on specialist matters, and the establishment in all member states of national drugs intelligence units similar to our own, as well as the later examination of the establishment of a European drugs intelligence unit. Ministers agreed to further work on closer co-operation between police forces.

They also considered the preliminary work of the Group established within TREVI to study border checks and other security measures post 1992 in order that the changes to take place should not adversely affect the prevention of terrorism, drug trafficking and other serious crime in the Community.