The European Pact on Immigration and Asylum was adopted by the European Council of 15- 16 October 20081, following the Commission’s Communication of June 2008 “A Common Immigration Policy for Europe: Principles, actions and tools”2. Building on the progress already achieved over 10 years, the Pact is a further stepping-stone towards a comprehensive EU migration policy. The European Council makes five basic commitments, which will continue to be developed and transposed into concrete measures in particular in theprogramme to follow on from the Hague Programme:
– to organise legal immigration to take account of the priorities, needs and reception capacities determined by each Member State, and to encourage integration;
– to control illegal immigration by ensuring that illegal immigrants return to their countries of origin or to a country of transit;
– to make border controls more effective;
– to construct a Europe of asylum;
– to create a comprehensive partnership with the countries of origin and of transit in order to encourage the synergy between migration and development.
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