This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 07 BRUSSELS 000442 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DEPARTMENT FOR PRM/PRP, PRM/ECA; EUR/ERA AND CA/F. DHS 
PLEASE PASS ELAINE DEZENSKI; USDOJ FOR CRIMINAL DIVISION - 
BRUCE SWARTZ 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SMIG PREL KCRM PREF PHUM ELAB EUN USEU BRUSSELS
SUBJECT: MIGRATION MANAGEMENT: REGIONAL APPROACH FOR EU AND 
NEIGHBORS PROPOSED AT MINISTERIAL CONFERENCE 
 
¶1. (U) Summary.  At a ministerial conference held on January 
24-25, EU officials and counterparts from eastern and south 
neighbors launched the "Vienna Process" to improve migration 
management via a structured, regional dialogue and a joint 
program of action.  Major themes of the conference -- which 
was co-hosted by the International Organization for Migration 
(IOM), the Government of Belgium (OSCE chair), the Government 
of Austria (EU Presidency) and the European Commission -- 
included the effect of migration on diplomatic relations, 
security, and human rights.  Senior European interlocutors 
enunciated the benefits of migration in reversing falling 
population rates, energizing the economy and offering 
protection to those fleeing persecution.  The Austrian 
Presidency, however, kept a focus on migration's downside: 
security threats and social tension.  The European Commission 
will spend three percent of its neighborhood policy budget to 
improve migration management in the region.  Regarding 
bilateral U.S.-EU issues, DHS Acting Assistant Secretary 
Dezenski touched on the future of the Visa Waiver Program 
(VWP), US VISIT, the Rice-Chertoff Initiative and migrant 
integration.  A follow-up ministerial conference, to which 
the U.S. is invited, will be held  May 4-5 in Vienna and will 
focus primarily on migration and security.  End Summary. 
 
------------------------ 
Austrian Presidency: Stress on Security, Problems 
------------------------ 
 
¶2. (U) In her opening statement, Austria's Interior Minister 
Liese Prokop stated that migration has been "a constant 
feature of human history" which has enhanced global economic 
growth while simultaneously creating major social and 
political problems.  Noting that the number of international 
migrants doubleD in the last 25 years, with the majority 
ending up in developed countries, she acknowledged the 
importance that the EU's neighbors attach to migration.  She 
said the Austrian Presidency would work to effectively 
strengthen migration management within the EU, including the 
establishment of "rapid assistance teams" that can help 
Member States during emergencies (e.g., storming the land 
borders of the Spanish enclaves, onslaught of maritime 
arrivals in Malta, Spain and Italy, etc.). 
 
¶3. (U) Prokop stressed the link between migration management 
and the security of the union by noting that most security 
threats originate outside the EU.  She said the Austrian 
Presidency will work to establish an external strategy in JHA 
issues by improving dialogue and cooperation with third 
countries. 
 
¶4. (U) Prokop said that the international dimension of the 
EU's policy would include strengthening refugee protection 
mechanisms in regions of origin and transit and hoped that 
pilot projects to the east (Ukraine, Belarus and Moldova) and 
to the south (Tanzania) would begin during the Austrian 
Presidency.  Regarding asylum, Prokop pledged to work towards 
a common European system that would prevent abuse.  The 
system would include common information on countries of 
origin and common return standards when deporting failed 
asylum seekers. 
 
------------------------ 
European Commission: Stress on Benefits, Cooperation 
------------------------ 
 
¶5. (U) Fellow Austrian Benita Ferrero-Waldner, Commissioner 
for External Relations and the European Neighborhood Policy, 
took a more upbeat line on the benefits of international 
migration, while acknowledging problems.  She said that if 
the EU were to become relevant to European publics, it needed 
to address present-day concerns of the citizens such as 
migration.  According to Ferrero-Waldner, negative 
perceptions about migrants were "based more on emotion than 
fact" and tended to become more acute during uncertain times. 
 
 
¶6. (U) "The truth is: Europe needs migration," 
Ferrero-Waldner stated bluntly.  Speaking about Austria, she 
said that without immigration, its population would shrink 25 
percent by 2050.  On the other hand, immigration could spur 
economic growth by attracting brains and labor from outside, 
she argued, and cited the U.S. as a model for attracting 
skilled labor. 
 
¶7. (U) Ferrero-Waldner also touched on the dangers of 
clandestine voyages, the possibility of sex slavery and 
alienation after arriving, the effect of brain drain in 
countries of origin and families hardships caused by 
separation.  With regard to border control, she said the EU 
needed a "more nuanced, better suited" approach.  "Fortress 
Europe is not an option," she emphasized.  The Commissioner 
announced a new thematic program for migration management 
more in keeping with todays world which will provide focus on 
five areas:  1) ensuring migration contributes to 
development; 2) promoting migration to face the EU,s 
demographic, social and economic challenges; 3) fighting 
illegal immigration; 4) protecting migrants from exploitation 
and exclusion; and 5) promoting international protection and 
ensuring respect of migrants' rights. 
 
¶8. (U) To accomplish this, Ferrero-Waldner announced that up 
to 3% of the European Neighborhood Policy and other external 
relations budgets would support these key themes.  "We have 
put migration on the agenda of political, economic and social 
dialogues with many non-Member States."  Funds will be used 
to intensify migration dialogues, strengthen institutional 
capacities of neighboring states, improve border control, 
strengthen document security, upgrade reception facilities 
for asylum seekers, protect and rehabilitate victims of 
trafficking, and reintegrate returnees in countries of 
origin.  Future initiatives could include facilitating the 
flow of remittances and encouraging development-oriented 
investment, providing pre-departure information for legal 
migrants wishing to emigrate, and encouraging contributions 
of the diaspora communities to aid countries of origin. 
 
¶9. (U) (Note.  These funds will also be used to support the 
implementation of readmission agreements -- i.e., used to pay 
third countries to take back illegal migrants.  In his 
conference speech, Director General for Justice Freedom and 
Security Jonathan Faull stressed the important of readmission 
agreements.  He noted that another price neighboring 
countries exacted for the EU for them was "visa facilitation" 
agreements.  Faull said that the Commission does not accept 
the logic of tying readmission to visa facilitation, but it 
was a "political reality" that the EU had to live with.  End 
note.) 
 
¶10. (U) Emphasizing the positive in concluding her remarks, 
Ferrero-Waldner urged her colleagues to "be more courageous 
in explaining to our publics the true nature of migration and 
its impact."  She also called for sufficient funding to 
ensure for more rational and balanced migration policies 
throughout the EU. 
 
------------------------ 
Member States: Some benefits, some costs 
------------------------ 
 
¶11. (U) Belgian Foreign Minister and conference host Karel de 
Gucht said that no foreign policy strategy makes sense 
without a migration component.  Echoing the Commissioner's 
speech, he called for a "long-term vision that goes beyond 
border controls."  De Gucht cited the contributions of many 
Italians, Spaniards, Moroccans and Turks in strengthening 
Belgium's economy and stressed that participation in the 
labor market is key to integration.  To emphasize this point, 
he noted that those who had arrived with labor contracts and 
began working became much better integrated than the second 
and third generations who are often unemployed and 
frustrated.  The Belgian Foreign Minister also pointed to the 
U.S. as a model and said that the EU needed to attract 
800,000 researchers if it were to compete effectively with 
the U.S. 
 
¶12. (U) Belgian Interior Minister Patrick Dewael also 
addressed the conference and stressed the need for a strong 
EU readmission policy in managing migration.  He urged 
protection for victims of trafficking and refugees, but noted 
the EU could not absorb them all.  Dewael called for EU 
Member States to harmonize their migration policies and 
concluded that controlled immigration needed to be part of 
the solution to the EU's demographic challenges. 
 
¶13. (U) Speaking on behalf of Germany, Parliamentary State 
Secretary in the Federal Ministry of Interior Peter Altmaier 
 
SIPDIS 
observed that between 1990 and 2005 his country had 
experienced a net gain of 4.5 million immigrants (13 million 
arrivals and 8.5 million departures) -- which he noted was a 
population larger than some EU Member States.  Like his 
Austrian counterpart, Altmaier payed some lip service to the 
positive aspects of immigration while stressing the downside 
(e.g., criminal activities, unemployment, integration). 
 
¶14. (U) Referring to asylum, Altmaier said that although the 
number of applications in Germany had dropped from a high of 
about 430,000 per year in the early 1990's to a current 
30,000 per year, the recognition rate had remained at under 
one percent.  He called for a homogenous asylum system in the 
EU with a common list of "safe countries" and common database 
on county of origin information.  Regarding citizenship, 
Altamaier urged other countries to respect Germany's 
legislation prohibiting dual nationality and said foreign 
governments should not allow naturalized Germans who 
renounced their former nationalities to regain them. 
 
------------------------ 
European Parliament: Humanitarian considerations 
------------------------ 
 
¶15. (U) Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Graham Watson 
(UK Liberal) said that with an estimated 500,000 illegal 
immigrants entering the EU every year and 250,000 new asylum 
applications each year, action needed to be taken.  He noted 
that "migrations are necessary" and emphasized the 
humanitarian imperative of international protection.  Graham 
also noted the positive effect on developing countries that 
stems from migration.  He lauded the Commission's new 
thematic program, which he hoped would result in migration 
being viewed as an opportunity rather than a problem. 
 
¶16. (U) With regard to the integration of migrants, MEP Doris 
Pack (German Conservative) highlighted specific problems that 
relate to women.  She said that women tend to be more 
vulnerable and often face greater challenges due to family 
responsibilities.  Pack called for more assistance to asylum 
seekers in acquiring language and work skills.  She said that 
asylum seekers needed to be effective in the host country 
while awaiting a decision on their asylum applications. 
 
¶17. (U) MEP Sarah Ludsford (UK Liberal) defended the free 
movement of people while acknowledging that unregulated 
migration is problematic.  She stated that legal migration 
had greatly benefited London and was greatly needed in the EU 
overall, but she opposed EU-established immigration quotas. 
Ludsford said it was important to stress to migrants that 
integration is dynamic and a two-way street.  Migrants have 
to adapt to the lifestyle of the host society without losing 
their cultural identity and host countries needed to adapt 
institutions and government policies to the new influences of 
the migrants and facilitate access to decision makers. 
 
------------------------ 
Eastern Neighbors: Migration problematic 
------------------------ 
 
¶19. (U) Russia and Belarus stressed the importance of 
managing migration, both within the Commonwealth of 
Independent States (CIS) and across the EU's Schengen border. 
 Russian Ambassador Vladimir Chizhov characterized migration 
as "one of the most burning and complex issues of this 
country" since the fall of the iron curtain.  He expressed 
gratitude to international partners who had supported the 
ten-year CIS Conference Process that took place from 1996 - 
2006 and tackled issues such as forced migrations, ethnic 
conflicts, deep economic transformations and its effect on 
labor migration.  Belarus' Deputy Foreign Minister Valeriu 
Gaisenok said was spearheading an "action-oriented dialogue" 
to carry forward the work of the CIS Conference, which would 
involve IOM, UNHCR and other relevant international 
organizations (OSCE, CoE, etc.).  He invited all CIS and EU 
countries, as well as other interested countries, to join 
this Minsk-based dialogue. 
 
¶20. (U) Gaisenok outlined the many actions being taken by 
Belarus to combat irregular migration and trafficking in 
persons.  He said that Belarus had proposed a global 
partnership at the UN to combat trafficking and was also 
initiating a pilot project on biometrics with the help of 
IOM. 
 
¶21. (U) Chizhov noted that there are now about 5 million 
foreign migrants living in Russia and called on the EU to 
help fund activities to strengthen Russia's southern border 
as the first line of defense in thwarting unauthorized 
movements to the EU.  He said that Russia would sign in the 
coming days a memorandum with the EU's new FRONTEX border 
management agency to formalize cooperation on border issues. 
He also mentioned Russia's decision to incorporate biometric 
identifiers in passports and visas to improve border 
security. 
 
------------------------ 
U.S.: Western Hemisphere and transatlantic dialogues 
important 
------------------------ 
 
¶22. (U) Speaking on a panel devoted to migration and 
security, DHS Acting Assistant Secretary for Policy 
Development Elaine Dezenski noted cooperation among Western 
Hemisphere countries in ways that "both enhance security and 
respect civil liberties." 
¶23. (U) She listed U.S. priorities, as follows:  1) to 
further secure North America from external threats through a 
perimeter or hemispheric approach; 2) to better prevent and 
respond to threats within North America, including natural 
disasters such as the recent hurricanes that ravaged the 
Southern United States; and 3) to streamline the secure and 
efficient movement of legitimate and low-risk traffic across 
our shared borders through a North American traveler security 
strategy that includes standards on travel and nationality 
documents as well as the development of equivalent approaches 
for traveler screening systems and information sharing 
arrangements between such systems. 
¶24. (U) Regarding bilateral U.S.-EU issues, Dezenski touched 
on the future of the Visa Waiver Program (VWP), US VISIT, the 
Rice-Chertoff Initiative and migrant integration.  An excerpt 
of her prepared speech on transatlantic issues follows: 
BEGIN QUOTE 
DHS has also worked hard with our international partners 
outside of the western hemisphere. Europe remains one of our 
closest and most important partners. In 2004, then Under 
Secretary for Border and Transportation Security, Asa 
 
SIPDIS 
Hutchison and Director General for Justice, Liberty and 
Security, Jonathan Faull created the Policy Dialogue on 
Border and Transportation Security to identify and discuss 
emerging policy issues related to cross border movements 
before they became areas of discord. This biannual venue has 
been critical to building ties and improving awareness of 
each others goals and has helped us to improve understanding 
of vital programs and work towards common solutions to shared 
problems. 
Our bilateral relationships with Europe also remain central 
to our concept of border management. The Visa Waiver Program 
or VWP is an excellent example of how we work with our 
partners to facilitate legitimate travelers while 
cooperatively strengthening the security of our borders. 
After September 11th many members of Congress felt that the 
program left the door wide open for abuse by those with a 
desire to stay just long enough to commit an act of 
terrorism. The Bush Administration and DHS fought hard to 
keep this program alive by creating new systems and processes 
to better meet the statutory requirements. . . . . It has 
been a tough road. 
We greatly appreciate the cooperation we've received from all 
of the VWP countries and acknowledge their significant steps 
to improve the security of international travel. For example, 
Belgium, our host country today, was the first country in the 
world to begin full implementation of a biometric passport. 
Your cooperation enables us to demonstrate to Congress that 
the VWP can be a pillar in the war on terrorism, with cutting 
edge best practices and technologies that improve our 
collective security. 
As a result, when President Bush and Polish President 
Aleksander Kwasniewski announced the creation of the Roadmap 
process in February 2005 it was on a solid base. Today 
Consular Working Groups have been established in eleven 
nations not currently in the VWP to identify steps that each 
of these countries could take to meet the program 
requirements and eventually seek nomination. I would also 
like to take this opportunity to thank Secretary Tarka for 
Poland's recent launch of a working group. The United States 
looks forward to working with both governments as part of 
this process. 
We are optimistic that through this process we can eventually 
reach a point where all our partner nations in the EU receive 
visa waiver privileges and requirements. The second half of 
our vision, however, must be one in which we have done the 
hard work necessary to address the security, general law 
enforcement and immigration and border control issues that 
might impede each countries progress toward that goal. We 
need to maintain the integrity of this program and be 
absolutely sure that VWP membership does not open the door to 
abuse by terrorists and criminals. Otherwise, we may find 
ourselves without a VWP. 
The Roadmap is a truly cooperative process and individual 
roadmaps will vary depending on the history, geography, 
economy and political needs and desires of each country as 
well as their relationships with their neighbors and the 
larger global community. We recognize that this may take some 
time. We also look to our colleagues in the European Union, 
OSCE and elsewhere to help in developing conditions in each 
country that will help them meet the criteria. We cannot 
provide you with a checklist, but I can promise that we will 
work closely with you. 
Both bilaterally and multilaterally we are working to 
identify new and improved tools for determining how to screen 
people crossing the border. We appreciate the partnership of 
the European Union, Interpol, the UN and G8, and others in 
driving towards better solutions to verifying the validity of 
travel documents. We have a lot of work to do yet, but this 
is clearly a problem that requires an international solution. 
Of course, effective cooperation with our international 
partners requires DHS to maintain effective policies and 
programs domestically. A major part of that effort is the use 
of biometrics in border screening. Identity management 
through biometrics is key to enhancing security, facilitating 
travel, enforcing immigration laws, and identifying the bad 
guys. 
The Department,s hallmark effort in this area is the United 
States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology, or 
US-VISIT program. US-VISIT collects biometric and biographic 
information on international travelers to verify their 
identity and to build an entry and exit record of their trip 
to the United States. To capture biometrics, US-VISIT 
electronically scans a visitor,s index fingers and takes a 
digital photograph -- all in the space of seconds. The 
biometrics captured by US-VISIT allow consular and 
immigration officials to confidently tie travelers to the 
visas and passports they are carrying. 
US-VISIT has allowed us to unravel the assumed identities of 
hundreds of foreign nationals attempting to unlawfully enter 
the United States. For example, a routine US-VISIT check by 
inspection officers at John F. Kennedy International Airport 
showed that a visitor was using an alias. Further checks 
revealed two prior arrests for drug trafficking, a subsequent 
failure to appear in court and visa fraud. The traveler 
presented a fraudulent visa he had used to enter the United 
States more than 60 times without being detected by standard 
biographic record checks. US-VISIT has helped us to identify 
and deny entry to some 980 other undesirable individuals 
through the use of biometrics. It,s not possible to know how 
many terrorists or criminals have been frightened away from 
attempting to enter our country because of US-VISIT, but I 
have no doubt that the number is substantial. Best of all, we 
are able to achieve results like this without inconveniencing 
legitimate travelers. 
We are also constantly evaluating our efforts to determine 
how to make the United States a more welcoming place. In 
fact, just last week, Secretary Chertoff and Secretary of 
State Rice announced the Rice-Chertoff initiative -- a three 
part program to roll out the welcome mat. This new ideal was 
founded on two very basic truths - that travel, tourism and 
business economically benefit both the individuals home 
country and destination and that seeing freedom first hand is 
critical to its growth. 
Through RCI, we're working on making every visa applicant's 
interaction with the U.S. government easier and more 
convenient, with an initial focus on student and business 
travelers. This effort may eventually lead to the elimination 
of the visa as we know it and its replacement with an e-visa 
that may even have been obtained after a remote interview. We 
are also creating a more transparent entry process, providing 
clear, friendly instruction to arriving travelers and 
creating a simpler redress process for those that still, 
unfortunately, have a bad experience. On the back end, all of 
this will be supported by improved information sharing and 
more secure travel documents. 
As we address security in the context of migration, recent 
events here in Western Europe reinforce the need for 
governments, as well as communities, to promote effective 
integration of new immigrants, their children and 
grandchildren. 
About 100 years ago, "Americanization" -- as the policy was 
called -- sought to promote civic literacy, English language 
acquisition, and cultural assimilation. Immigrants then were 
expected to adopt to the prevailing Anglo-American culture. 
The civil rights movement of the 1950's and 1960's shifted 
our focus from cultural to civic integration 
Today, we believe, that, despite differences in background, 
all Americans are bound together by a set of enduring civic 
principles as relevant today as they were the day our 
Constitution. Americans embrace the ideals of freedom and 
opportunity, equality before the law, respect and tolerance 
for difference, the value of work and self-sufficiency and 
the primacy of individual citizens and their rights in 
governing our nation. We strive to enact these ideals in our 
laws and demonstrate them in our everyday civic life. We 
welcome immigrants who want to make the U.S. their home and 
join us in honoring these principles. 
Our goal is to ensure that new immigrants and naturalized 
citizens understand and identify with the constitutional 
principles that define what being American is about. 
END QUOTE 
------------------------ 
Next Steps 
------------------------ 
 
¶25. (U) A follow-on ministerial conference will be held in 
Vienna, May 4 - 5, and will conclude with a "Vienna 
Declaration" on ways to extend the EU's ambitious Hague 
Program on Justice and Home Affairs matters to neighboring 
countries.  In this way, the EU hopes that its immediate 
neighbors will enhance national systems and structures to 
effectively manage migration flows in ways that reduce 
trafficking in human beings, organized crime and unmanageable 
surges of migrant labor. 
 
------------------------ 
Comment 
------------------------ 
 
¶26. (U) In each 2005 and 2006, the Commission has budgeted 
over 100 million euros to strengthen migration management 
outside the EU.  The annual amount should increase 
significantly in the next budget cycle, currently under 
discussion.  In putting its money where its mouth is, the EU 
is acknowledging the priority which both governments and 
citizens alike attach to sound migration policies.  The 
January 24 - 25 conference featured over 10 cabinet level 
ministers from EU Member States and neighbors to the east and 
south, along with top-tier officials from the European 
Commission and international organizations.  There is no 
doubt that migration is at the top of the political agenda, 
as well.  Regional dialogues can play an important role in 
mitigating the thorny aspects of international migration. 
 
 
¶27. (U) The follow-up ministerial conference May 4 -5 in 
Vienna will take place back-to-back with the scheduled 
U.S.-EU ministerial troika.  According to Austrian officials, 
over 70 cabinet level ministers from approximately 40 
countries will attend the conference.  They noted that the 
U.S. Attorney General has already confirmed his participation 
in the event but that no response had been received from 
Secretary Chertoff's office.  Presenting U.S. views on the 
 
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security aspects of international migration at this event, 
and including USG priorities as they relate to the planned 
"Vienna Declaration", might help us extend these policies to 
the EU and regions beyond. 
 
McKINLEY 
.