VZCZCXRO7313
OO RUEHIK
DE RUEHBS #1584/01 3281642
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 241642Z NOV 09
FM USEU BRUSSELS
TO RHMFIUU/DEPT OF HOMELAND SECURITY WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE
INFO RUCNMEM/EU MEMBER STATES COLLECTIVE PRIORITY

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 BRUSSELS 001584 
 
SIPDIS 
 
DHS PLEASE PASS TO DHS/PLCY MICHAEL SCARDAVILLE. STATE 
PLEASE PASS TO CA/FO, CA/P, PRM/FO AND PRM/MCE 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: SMIG PREF CVIS KFRD EUN
SUBJECT: ESTABLISHING A U.S.-EU MIGRATION DIALOGUE 
 
REF: ATHENS 2038 
 
BRUSSELS 00001584  001.2 OF 003 
 
 
¶1.  This is an action request for CA, PRM, EUR and DHS.  See 
paragraph 8. 
 
¶2.  SUMMARY: USEU hosted a working lunch November 17 on 
migration and refugee issues, for contacts from Swedish and 
Spanish EU missions (the current and upcoming EU 
Presidencies), as well as the EU Council and Commission.  The 
initiative, undertaken by the Consular Affairs (CA), 
Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) and Department of 
Homeland Security (DHS) representatives at post, was designed 
as a follow-up to the commitment for the U.S. and the EU to 
expand dialogue on migration and refugee issues, which was 
expressed in the October 28 EU-U.S. Justice and Home Affairs 
(JHA) ministerial statement.  The lunch participants 
discussed the content of such a dialogue, agreeing that it 
could encompass legal, illegal, voluntary and involuntary 
migration, but must be practical, focused, results-oriented 
and not duplicative of work done in other fora.  The group 
identified possible action items on which to work, as well as 
structural questions which would need to be addressed to 
establish a productive dialogue.  USEU offers recommendations 
and seeks concurrence from CA, PRM, EUR and DHS.  END SUMMARY. 
 
------------------------------------------- 
"WHOLE OF GOVERNMENT" APPROACH TO MIGRATION 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶3.  The EU-U.S. statement on "Enhancing transatlantic 
cooperation in the area of Justice, Freedom and Security", 
which was adopted at the JHA Ministerial in Washington, DC on 
28 October, recognized migration as one of the major 
international policy issues of the 21st century, affecting 
hundreds of millions of people in sending, transit and 
receiving countries.  The U.S. and the EU both face 
significant challenges in managing, directing and protecting 
these migratory flows, while safeguarding their borders.  The 
Statement declared,  "We intend to improve our common 
understanding of the global phenomena of migration and 
refugee issues and look for joint responses in areas where we 
are both affected. To this end we commit to expand our 
dialogue." Recognizing the interrelated nature of their work 
on aspects of the migration and refugee agendas, USEU's 
officers from CA, PRM and DHS have been coordinating efforts 
at post to take a holistic view of migration writ large to 
achieve greater results than each pursuing their agendas 
separately.  With the adoption of the 28 October statement, 
the three USEU offices invited EU counter-parts to a working 
lunch to examine how to establish a migration and refugee 
dialogue.  USEU began the discussion with its vision for a 
dialogue that would be practical and results-oriented, a 
perspective heartily shared by the EU participants.  The 
ensuing discussion was lively and far-reaching while never 
leaving the realm of the "do-able."  Both the U.S. and EU 
representatives outlined the dynamics of, and constraints 
intrinsic to, their inter-agency processes and the need for 
approval from their respective capitals regarding the form 
and direction of the dialogue. 
 
--------------------- 
BRAINSTORMING SESSION 
--------------------- 
 
¶4.  The participants at the lunch developed a list of 
possible initiatives a more formal dialogue could undertake, 
including: 
 
--   Developing systematic, regularly-scheduled training 
opportunities for transatlantic counterparts on anti-fraud 
and other best practices, regular site visits to view one 
another's consular sections, consular databases, and border 
controls, as well as fact-finding trips on refugee 
resettlement efforts; 
 
--   Studying together how best to integrate refugees and 
other migrants into their host country societies, for the 
benefit of the migrant and society, as well as a means to 
avoid radicalization; 
 
--   Reimagining the visa process in an increasingly 
high-technology, "paperless" world; 
 
--  Exploring together how best to work with other countries 
to address illegal migration from and through them, as well 
as by sea, sharing our experiences trying to establish 
bilateral or regional migration partnerships (the EU is 
particularly interested in U.S. efforts with Mexico and Latin 
America and is willing to share its experiences on its 
 
BRUSSELS 00001584  002.2 OF 003 
 
 
southern and eastern borders); 
 
--   Assessing the potential of the EU's comprehensive 
approach to migration (NOTE: The EU refers to this as the 
"global approach" but it is not intended to be world-wide. 
It is a country- or region-specific plan that focuses on 
three aspects - organizing and facilitating legal migration, 
reducing illegal migration, and addressing the 
migration-development nexus, while also safe-guarding human 
rights and ensuring protection of refugees.  END NOTE); 
 
--   Examining common challenges in controlling access to 
territory and managing transit migration, including exploring 
potential consular data sharing to screen out mala fide 
travelers; 
 
--   Jointly supporting a program to help third countries 
produce their own migration profile, envisioned as a 
standardized overview of the scope and impact of migration on 
their country, to promote development of evidence-based 
migration policy as well as to enable the U.S. and EU to 
assess the impact of their capacity building and other 
policies in third countries; 
 
--   Streamlining and harmonizing the U.S. and EU approaches 
to certain types of employment visas such as intra-company 
transfers, and exploring the scope for recognition of titles 
and credentials; 
 
--   Analyzing the role of student migration on education and 
labor issues, and whether policies should encourage them to 
stay or depart after completing their studies; 
 
--   Examining approaches to the challenges inherent in 
dealing with unaccompanied minors; 
 
--   Coordinating the U.S. and EU approach to the Global 
Forum on Migration and Development (Reftel). 
 
The above list is not exhaustive but provides a flavor of the 
possible areas of cooperation and accomplishment.  USG ideas 
that were not raised at the lunch due to time constraints 
include: 
 
--   Joint migration capacity building in third countries 
like Libya; 
 
--   Developing a common approach to international adoptions 
in third countries such as Vietnam; 
 
--   Sharing approaches to interviewing/adjudicating Somalis 
in the absence of civil documentation. 
 
----------------------- 
ACCOMPLISHING OUR GOALS 
----------------------- 
 
¶5.  Given the cross-cutting nature of the substantive areas 
offered for possible inclusion in a dialogue, there is an 
array of actors and institutions on both sides that could be 
involved.   The Spanish opined that the EU's High Level 
Working Group (HLWG) on Migration would be best suited to 
coordinate the efforts of different parts of the EU.  The 
HLWG began in 1999 with a mandate to develop common, 
integrated, cross-cutting policy approaches to the most 
important countries of origin of asylum-seekers and migrants. 
 Placing the U.S.-EU migration dialogue under the HLWG on the 
EU side would mean that its initiatives would be within the 
EU Council structure, as opposed to the Commission, and so 
will have the leadership of the Presidency and incorporate 
the voices of the 27 member states.  This placement may have 
even greater importance after implementation of the Lisbon 
Treaty, as member states acting together in coalition will 
have rights to initiate proposals in these sorts of JHA 
issues. 
 
¶6.  The trio of offices at USEU (CA, PRM and DHS) already 
enjoys strong communication and excellent working 
relationships and is capable of handling the bulk of the 
coordination and daily work required for the USG to realize 
the goals of the dialogue.  But the appropriate interlocutors 
from CA, PRM and DHS in Washington need to be identified, and 
decisions made about whether a coordinating body, comparable 
to the EU's High Level Working Group on Migration, exists or 
could be created to provide oversight and the decision-making 
required to ensure success. 
 
¶7.  USEU suggests that CA/P, PRM/MCE and DHS/PLCY take the 
lead for their bureaus/agency, and establish a coordinating 
 
BRUSSELS 00001584  003.2 OF 003 
 
 
mechanism, which includes EUR/ERA, to facilitate action on 
the dialogue in Washington.  Given that the dialogue 
originated in the JHA Ministerial statement, USEU also 
recommends the JHA Ministerial as the appropriate venue for 
finalizing the projects developed at the working level.  This 
may require broadening the Ministerial from its current USG 
configuration.  Typically lead by the Secretary of DHS and 
the Attorney General, State's representation has been driven 
by the agenda.  For the 2009 agenda, for example, G/TIP and 
INL spoke at the Ministerial, with other bureaus sending 
notetakers.  Expanding the migration dialogue as envisioned 
above will, at a minimum, require PRM and CA to be at the 
table, and may suggest a larger reexamination of the 
appropriate USG delegation as a whole. 
 
¶8.  Action Request:  The EU intends to raise the migration 
dialogue internally at the next HLWG meeting in December, and 
has invited the United States to participate in a day-long 
planning meeting in Madrid on January 13, 2010, as a 
follow-on to the January 11-12 meeting of the informal JHA 
Senior Level Meeting.  Therefore, USEU requests that CA, PRM, 
EUR and DHS review our recommendations in paragraph seven and 
assign offices to take the lead in each bureau/agency, by 
December 4.  In addition, USEU requests a decision regarding 
attendance at the January 13 planning meeting in Madrid. 
 
MURRAY 
.