New debates give voice to the public

Illegal immigration was yesterday discussed during the first in a series of debates aimed at involving the public in the EU by allowing them to voice their opinion on important issues.

At the end of yesterday's debate participants agreed on a set of recommendations that will be forwarded to the European Commission during a meeting later on this year.

Those present at yesterday's meeting at the University agreed that EU member states should share the responsibility for illegal immigration.

They also felt that the EU should ensure that immigrants are treated with dignity and more should be done to combat human smuggling, trafficking and modern forms of slavery.

They resolved that migration needs to be acknowledged as one of today's most pressing issues and cannot be tackled without a coherent development aid strategy.

In his first public meeting, Parliamentary Secretary for Public Consultation Chris Said said that the immigration problem had negatively affected public opinion on the EU.

This happened for several reasons, including a lack of burden sharing from the EU and member states and because it seemed that the people's expectations on Frontex, the EU's border control agency, were not reached.

The newly-appointed parliamentary secretary explained that the European Commission set up the Plan D for Democracy, Dialogue and Debate to face the challenge of gaining citizens' trust and confidence in the European project.

The objective of this project was to raise awareness and to encourage action - both by members of the EU's civil society and by the representatives of the EU institutions.