Immigration and asylum policies

This Commission communication related to the immigration and asylum policies in the European Union and defined the guiding framework for the future European policy on this issue. The main areas of reflection proposed by the Commission to reach a global agreement on immigration and asylum in Europe were defined as follows: - working on migratory pressure, particularly by cooperating with the main countries of potential emigration to Europe: to meet this objective, the migration and asylum policies should be fully integrated in the Union's external policies and the various instruments in the matter should be used (e.g. in the fields of trade, development and cooperation, humanitarian assistance and human rights); - controlling immigration in order to maintain it within structures that could be managed: to this end, the communication proposed that there should be a joint political response to the problems of admitting workers, students and refugees and to the problem of illegal immigration; - giving greater consideration to the integration policies concerning legal immigrants: in this context, the communication suggested that the integration policies should improve the situation of nationals of third countries who had taken up residence legally (e.g.: though the creation of economic and socio-cultural conditions that benefited successful integration and dialogue with immigrant communities). �