ITALY: Vita meets Franco Frattini. Interview by Carlotta Jesi

The Vice President of European Commission is a man who believes to have the courage to make political steps, even if these are unpopular and isolated, without worrying about burocracy.

Vita: Freedom, justice, safety. In which one of these fields is it most urgent to take steps, even if unpopular?
Frattini: Freedom, this is the thorniest but also most stimulating issue within my legal work. Freedom is not created by a European Paper and cannot be enforced by the law. Does wearing the veil in a polling office mean religious freedom? Does the right to practice the ritual of prayer mean that you can stop working to turn to the Mecca? Creating laws about such themes will impose the principle of reciprocity: if I allow certain practices to be carried out in my country, in turn I expect my practices to be respected in other countries.

Vita: There is a certain urgency to guarantee many different kinds of freedom in the UE. How can this be acheived if not by creating and enforcing laws?
Frattini: Apart form the Nizza Paper, in which the principle of religious freedom is affirmed, this subject must be takled by the dialogue between communities and by encouraging good practices. Is a field in which I would like to see a strong contribution from civil society, one that has no need to hide behind political correctness.

Vita: Could you explain this in more detail?
Frattini: We cannot promote an intercultural dialogue and then turn our backs when a young Muslim woman, who lives in Italy, is killed by her father. The civil society must put the needs of the community first, then come the principles that enable us to live together, which does not mean absolute freedom. There is no want for good practices.

Vita: Which ones, for examples?
Frattini: The ones in the hand book on integration that we will present the 8 and 9 october in Rotterdam. The first city that has produced a Paper on municipal cohabitation: it contains a set of guiding principles, rights and duties, that must be subscribed to if one wishes to be granted residence. The idea has already been exported to Lion and Manchester and could be useful to the whole of Europe. N.B, these principles and rules can be varied according to the territories they are applied to and are not imposed from above.

Vita: What other suggestions are in the book that you will present in Holland?
Frattini: The launching of a permanent forum on integration at the European level with meetings every six months. Rotterdam will be the first stop, next year Valencia and Poland. The Mayor of Rome also expressed his interest. We would like to spread the idea to countries in Africa because they are the point of departure for much of the immigration that reaches Europe. This is the core of new kind of european politics that is aimed at strengthening individual rights and at fighting the corruption that surrounds illegal landing.

Vita: At the recent summit in Rabat, the UE pointed out that the reinforcement of cooperation is a tool for fighting illegal immigration. How do you want to ivolve Ngos?
Frattini: Until now Ngos were considered actors that should be involved only during the final steps; for example the welcoming and receiving of immigrants. Now there is a new phase: cooperation in the place immigrants come from. We have launched pilot projects in Tanzania, Moldavia, Ukraine, and Bielorussia, where Ngos are the only representatives of the E.U that have no relationship to Lukashenko regime.

Vita: Ngos and associations complain about a chronic lack of funds.
Frattini: The new European Fund for development, that will be ready at the end of the year, will donate three bilion euros towards the politics of governance, the development of individual rights and the battle on corruption.

Vita: To which borders does immigration today pose the greatest risks?
Frattini: Apart from the Mediterranean, I would say the East of Europe because is a door that can be acessed by a kind of immigration that is less desperate than the African one but a lot more violent

Vita: is that why you chose Warsaw as the main office for Frontex, the agency created a year ago to coordinate European work to counter illegal immigration?
Frattini: With Frontex, Poland has undertaken an important commitment. However, other European countries that aren?t touched by immigration?s problems do not demonstrate the same interest in making a similar committment. In fact, there is the will to reduce the funds destined to this agency that counts only 56 persons. In reply to these sceptical criticisms, I will anticipate that we are about to create a network of Frontex offices that will favour the spreading of information regarding immigration.

www.frontex.com