WRITTEN QUESTION No. 118/98 by Jesús CABEZÓN ALONSO to the Council. Fisheries agreement with Morocco: biological rest period
22. 6. 98 EN Official Journal of the European Communities C 196/117 As regards the instruments adopted by the Council in order to discourage illegal immigration, reference is made to the reply by the Council to written question No E-3773/97. A number of instruments have been adopted concerning the conditions for admission of third-country nationals to the territory of Member States. At their Copenhagen meeting on 1 June 1993, Ministers with responsibility for immigration adopted the Resolution on the harmonization of national policies on family reunification. Subsequently, the Council adopted the following resolutions: › Council resolution of 20 June 1994 on limitations on admission of third-country nationals to the territory of the Member States for employment (OJ C 274, 19. 9. 1996, p. 3); › Council resolution of 30 November 1994 relating to the limitations on admission of third-country nationals to the territory of the Member States for the purpose of pursuing activities as self-employed persons (OJ C 274, 19. 9. 1996, p. 7); and › Council resolution of 30 November 1994 on the admission of third-country nationals to the territory of the Member States for study purposes (OJ C 274, 19. 9. 1996, p. 10). The Council regularly monitors the implementation by Member States of these instruments, in accordance with the Council decision of 22 December 1995 on monitoring the implementation of instruments already adopted concerning the admission of third-country nationals (OJ C 11, 16. 1. 1995, p. 1). Furthermore, this matter is the subject of the Commission proposal for a Council Act establishing the Convention on rules for the admission of third-country nationals to the Member States (OJ C 337, 7. 11. 1997, p. 9), which is currently under review in the competent working group of the Council. Finally, the Council is aware that racketeers are behind the planning and facilitation of much of the illegal immigration, particularly the recent migration influx from Iraq and the neighbouring region to which the Honourable Member referred in his question. For this reason, the Council considers that the tackling of illegal immigration is also an effective means of preventing the spread of criminal organizations from third countries in Europe. In this respect, reference is made to the EU Action Plan, adopted by the Council on 26 January 1998, to respond to the recent increase of migrants from Iraq and the neighbouring region. The Action Plan covers different aspects of this recent influx. It includes, in particular, elements aimed, on the one hand, at bringing together, analysing and acting upon all available intelligence on the involvement of organised crime in clandestine immigration networks, and on the other, at identifying any linkage to other areas of transnational organised crime in which the groups concerned may be involved. (98/C 196/163) WRITTEN QUESTION E-0118/98 by Jesu·s Cabezo·n Alonso (PSE) to the Council (30 January 1998) Subject: Fisheries agreement with Morocco: biological rest period Does the planned extension of the biological rest period for the fishing fleet decided on by the Kingdom of Morocco, which goes beyond that provided for in the current Fisheries Agreement between Morocco and the European Union, have the express approval of the Fisheries Ministers of all the Member States? Answer (30 March 1998) The reply to this question is in the negative. At its meeting on 18/19 December 1997, the Council was briefed by the Commission on the difficulties experienced in applying the Fisheries Agreement with the Kingdom of Morocco. The Council expressed considerable concern on this issue and asked the Commission to press on with its efforts to guarantee compliance with the undertakings entered into