EU: EU states failed to agree the outline of a common immigration policy yesterday amid bickering over Spain's policy of legalising immigrants.
Differences also emerged over proposals to share the cost among EU states of coping with increasing numbers of African immigrants trying to enter the EU by crossing the Mediterranean.
This year more than 24,000 Africans have arrived at Spain's Canary Islands, about five times the number during 2005.
Human rights groups and EU officials fear thousands more have died while attempting the sea crossing on rickety boats.
At a meeting of EU justice ministers yesterday, European Commission officials urged states to show solidarity with others such as Spain, Italy and Malta, to help them cope with African migrants arriving, often in poor health.
The commission proposed a range of measures to help Mediterranean states cope with the influx of illegal immigrants. These include: sharing the cost among EU member states; pooling equipment to help boost coastal patrols by the EU's border management agency; and adopting more common asylum and immigration policies.
However, at the meeting in Tampere, justice ministers from Austria, The Netherlands and Germany took the unusual step of publicly criticising the Spanish government for legalising 600,000 immigrants in 2005.
"It's no solution to legalise illegal people, as was done by Spain . . . It gives some kind of 'pull factor' to people in Africa, as we unfortunately saw in the last months," said Austrian justice minister Karin Gastinger.
Dutch immigration minister Rita Verdonk echoed the concerns of her Austrian colleague and said such moves only encouraged human traffickers.
Spanish justice minister Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar shrugged off the criticism, arguing that illegal migrants came because they were poor and hungry, not because an EU state changed its migration rules.
He urged the EU to provide more help: "Money, resources, means, determination." But several member states, including Ireland, said they did not see any reason why they should pay.
Tánaiste Michael McDowell, said he didn't see EU member states sharing the cost.
"The asylum seekers phenomenon costs the Exchequer €370 million per year," he added.
German interior minister Wolfgang Schäuble said people who wanted to solve problems must stop asking for the money of others.
Spain, Malta and Italy all asked for help, stressing that in a border-free Europe many migrants cross their territory only to reach other EU states. But their partners have so far contributed only two boats, one aircraft and a handful of experts to much-trumpeted joint sea patrols to stop Africans reaching the Canaries.
At a press conference at the end of the meeting, EU justice commissioner Franco Frattini warned member states if they did not share the costs of dealing with illegal immigration they would probably end up hosting immigrants in their countries.
"We cannot leave member states under pressure alone," he said. "There is an alternative: either share the economic burden or we will be forced to take people."