The European Commission will bring forward proposals to deal with human trafficking as one of the ways of demonstrating that a caring Europe is a part of its agenda, the secretary general of the commission, Catherine Day, said yesterday.
Responding to questions at the Forum on Europe in Dublin Castle, the Irishwoman who holds the top post in the commission said it would be coming up with proposals on human trafficking in the light of growing evidence about the scale of the problem.
She was responding to the Fine Gael spokesman on foreign affairs, Bernard Allen, who said the inability of the commission to deal with the issue was one reason why citizens had become disenchanted with the European project.
Ms Day said human trafficking fitted into the whole area of justice and home affairs, where it was clear that member states acting alone could not cope adequately with the range of problems. A number of developments were to be expected as the EU moved to take more decisions on a community basis.
She said the creation of a safe and a free Europe, following the enlargement of the EU and the September 11th attacks, meant there would be major developments in the justice and home affairs area, although the reluctance of some countries to move from unanimity to qualified majority voting on justice issues was a difficulty.
She added that there was a need to balance more concerted action in this area with the protection of individual liberties, as there was strong public resistance to moves that were seen to focus only on security.
Ms Day said migration, both legal and illegal, was a big issue for the EU and for Ireland. She said the factual data obtained by the commission had shown that Ireland, Britain and Sweden, which allowed free movement of workers immediately after enlargement, had benefited significantly while the states that restricted immigration had run into serious problems.
