Informal meetings of the European Union's council of ministers give an opportunity to discuss emerging policy proposals without taking firm decisions on them. It is a useful way of working, allowing ideas to be floated and assessed before they are carried further.
The meeting of interior and justice ministers in the Dutch seaside resort of Scheveningen last week on asylum seekers was a good example of the method at work. Sensibly, it shot down as impracticable and ill-defined a proposal by German and Italian ministers to set up external holding centres or transit camps in North Africa and Ukraine for people seeking asylum in EU states. But the ministers approved a separate plan from the European Commission for pilot projects in Tunisia, Libya, Morocco, Algeria and Mauritania at which those dealing with asylum seekers can be trained and legislation on the subject developed by the countries concerned in co-operation with the United Nations High Commission for Refugees.
Tens of thousands of economic migrants and asylum seekers are constantly trying to gain entry to EU member-states because of political oppression and economic desperation in poor neighbouring states and from further afield. The issue is regularly dramatised by discoveries of people on the high seas or in containers attempting to gain entry illegally, usually exploited by smuggler organisations making a fortune from the trade.
It is tempting to believe the problem can be tackled outside the EU's borders in the transit countries rather than in the member-states when people are apprehended or apply for asylum voluntarily. Australia's reactionary example influenced a British proposal last year to send asylum seekers back to camps in transit countries from EU member-states. The ministers were clearly divided on the subject and well aware that progress will not be made without political consensus. Critics from France, Sweden and several other states say such proposals are unacceptable under international law and could not be sufficiently resourced.
The Minister for Justice, Mr McDowell, shares these reservations. Thus the idea of transit camps is stillborn, although it could resurface at subsequent meetings later this year. In the meantime, the plan for pilot training projects makes good sense. But it will only be effective as part of a genuine effort to engage North African states on the subject with substantial development aid and a realisation that demographic trends in the EU will necessitate more immigration from and through these states in coming years.