IMMIGRATION/ASYLUM : MEPS AND NATIONAL MPS WANT LESS PUNITIVE ACTION.

Meeting in Brussels on 19 March, elected officials with responsibility for migration called for more legal avenues at the Union's gates

"Nothing taking place in the world today is really very far from our doorstep, including Syria, Mali and the Central African Republic." Most MEPs and national MPs concurred with this observation by Eugenio Ambrosi, adviser for Europe at the International Organisation for Migration (IMO). They also agreed with his appeal to the EU to implement a migration policy "based on facts" and "not on feelings".

With the European elections two months away and Eurosceptics ready to exploit the issue of immigration, MEPs met their counterparts from national parliaments to try to shape the future judicial, police and migration priorities of the post-2014 Union. These have to be adopted in spring and then validated at the late June EU summit.

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