<nettime> more exclusion, more deportations, more controls

[florian schneider <fls@ibu.de>]

http://temp.kiasma.fi/border
<mailto:border@temp.kiasma.fi>

MORE EXCLUSION, MORE DEPORTATIONS, MORE CONTROLS

More exclusion, more deportations, more controls. This is how the present
developments in the European harmonisation process can be summarised.
Accordingly the antiracist perspective has to gain a European outlook.
Antiracist groups from different countries have taken the EU summit in
Tampere as a chance to organise protest in a decentralised, but
coordinated grassroots manner. In dozens of european cities actions
against Fortress Europe will take place on october 15th and 16th, 1999.
You can follow these events and the counteractivities in Tampere as well
on our website: 

http://temp.kiasma.fi/border

Tomorrow, the finnish presidency invites heads of government for a special
EU summit in Tampere dealing with "Justice and Home affairs".  Central
theme to the EU summit in Tampere is asylum and migration politics. Heads
of government and foreign ministers are meeting in order to tackle a new
chapter of european integration: step by step they intend to introduce an
area of so-called "freedom, security and justice". This is how it was
formulated in the Amsterdam treaty, which has come into force on may 1st
this year. 

No freedom but exclusion, no saftey, but more control and fear of
deportation. No rights, but more and more disfranchisement. This is what
this process entails for many refugees and migrants all across Europe. 
They will be confronted with a rapid extension of fortress Europe, if this
harmonization process will be pursued. Up to now the cooperation in
Justice and Home affairs was regulated in an intergovernmental manner,
which means, there were no binding decisions and agreements. Now the EU
governments want to create a certain body of so-called union law, which
will determine every aspect of European affairs. This process is intended
to hinder governments - as for example the italian government - to
introduce their own programs of legalizing undocumented immigrants. 

 This scenario becomes more clear, when considering the following three
issues: 

1. External border controls: With the coming into force of the Amsterdam
treaty it was decided to integrate the Schengen Implementation Agreement
into the EU framework, in order to make sure, that the strict Schnegen
guidelines have to be adopted in the whole of the EU. This specifically
targets external border controls. The extensive armament of the border
police, a common visa policy, and the harmonization of the carrier
sanctions, i.e. fines for transport corporations, which bring undocumented
people or people with false papers across the border. In january 1999 the
german interior minister, Schily, handed over the Schnegen handbook on
external border controls to the embassies of the aspirting candidates of
EU membership: Poland, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Slovenia, Estonia and
Cypress. They are obliged to introduce the migrant specific political
provisions of the Schengen EU states, before entering the EU. This
integration is aimed at shifting the borders to the East, the above named
countries are supposed to become buffer states, which block migration
furtheron to the East. 

2. Intensification of internal controls: Since the 1st of may the EU
comission has got a right of iniative. Within four weeks of obtaining
these powers, they realized their new competences concerning one decisive
issue: They presented a decree for an EURODAC convention.  EURODAC, a
europe wide fingerprint database, is supposed to collect fingerprints of
all asylum seekers in all EU states. According to german plans everybody,
who is found without legal papers, is supposed to be registered as well.
EURODAC is going to enable the identification of refugees and illegalised
migrants at any point, in any place all over the EU. The goal is to deport
those, who are identied by the EURODAC, back to the country the country of
first entry into the EU, which then has to start the deportation process.
EURODAC is without a doubt the next step up in the systematic fight
against the illegalised, undocumented people, or sans papiers. Very
specifically migrants shall be prevented from fleeing into other
countries, when they are threatened with deportation. 

3. Action plans for specific countries of origin: When the first ships
full of refugees from Iraq arrived at the italian coasts in 1998, the
first EU action plan was released. The central question was, how on one
hand the migration flux of Iraqi curds could be stopped and the routes of
flight could be broken up. On the other hand how deportations through
Turkey into northern Iraq could be enforced. Following this logic further
action plans concerning certain target countries (Afghanistan, Somalia,
Sri Lanka, Morocco) were worked out. Following the pattern of the Iraq
action plan they concentrate on the hindrance of flight and search for
better possibilities for deportations. All these action plans are going to
be discussed and passed during the Tampere conference. 




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