IMMIGRATION : EU TO PENALISE EMPLOYERS OF ILLEGAL IMMIGRANTS.

• Position: European Union

Over the past two years, the European Union has considerably stepped up its arsenal of instruments to combat illegal immigration. In the wake of the very controversial directive on the return of illegal immigrants to their country of origin (Return Directive), it is now preparing to take on common rules to penalise the employers of undocumented workers, including penal sanctions in the most serious cases. Meeting in Strasbourg, the European Parliament is due to adopt, on 4 February, a compromise worked out with the Council on a proposal for a directive to combat illegal immigration by tackling bad' bosses.

Rapporteur Claudio Fava (PES, Italy) had to bring all his negotiating skills into play to reverse the proposal's logic of punitive action. Originally, the idea was to fight against the illegal immigrants alone, but now the aim is also to protect them, he said during the EP debate on the eve of the vote. "Otherwise, they were being punished twice, first by being exploited and second by being sent back home," he observed.

PROTECTION OF MINORS

It is especially on the case of children employed illegally that the EP has managed to obtain a more socially progressive approach. The member states would grant temporary residence...