Disagreement on how the European Union should deal with illegal immigration has overshadowed a meeting in Helsinki of the prime ministers of Denmark, Finland, and Sweden.

   

At their meeting in Helsinki on Tuesday, Danish Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen came out in favour of a model that would link development cooperation funding with an obligation by the recipient country to take back any of its citizens who travel illegally to the European Union.

   

This idea was criticised as ineffective by Sweden’s Göran Persson. Finland has not yet taken a stand on the issue. The question of illegal immigration is to be a key topic at the next EU summit in Seville later this month.

   

The leaders did agree that more efficiency is needed in the preparations and decision-making at EU summits.

The greatest uniting factor

at Tuesday’s meeting turned out to be when Denmark and France played each other at the World Cup on Tuesday.

   

All three leaders said that they had rooted together for Denmark.

   

The issue of illegal immigration proved to be the main bone of contention at the meeting, with the Danish and Swedish prime ministers sharply at odds with each other on the issue.

   

Sweden's Göran Persson sharply criticised the idea, promoted by Spain, Britain, and now Denmark, of linking development aid with the repatriation of illegal immigrants.

   

Persson pointed out that Sweden already considers the state of democracy in the target country when it makes decisions on granting aid. He also said that in situations in which there is poverty and an immediate need for aid, it is not possible to focus on these kinds of issues.

Finnish Prime Minister

Paavo Lipponen said that the idea of using such sanctions is a difficult question, and that Finland has not taken a final stand on the issue.

   

The issues to be discussed at the Seville summit include a programme of action on illegal immigration, more efficient monitoring of the external borders of the EU, and actions to be taken to either integrate illegal immigrants in the target countries, or to send them back home.

   

The three also agreed on some issues: one of them was the need for more efficient preparations for EU summits.

   

Lipponen praised Denmark for its preparations involving the Northern Dimension and cooperation with Russia before Denmark's turn at the rotating EU Presidency begins in July.