U.S.-EU MIGRATION DIALOGUE PRESENTED AT JHA SENIOR

UNCLAS BRUSSELS 000091 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT PASS TO CA/FO:BROWNLEE; CA/VO:TSMITH; CA/P:RDODDS; CA/OCS/CI:MREGAN; PRM/MCE:ENYMAN, PRM/PIM:JBANKS; INL/PC:SHARRIS; EUR/ERA:ANARDI DHS PASS TO DHS/PLCY: MSCARDAVILLE E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: CVIS SMIG PREF KFRD EUN SUBJECT: U.S.-EU MIGRATION DIALOGUE PRESENTED AT JHA SENIOR LEVEL INFORMAL MEETING REF: A. A) 09 USEU BRUSSELS 1704 ¶B. B)09 USEU BRUSSELS 1584 ¶1. (U) Summary: On January 12, the USEU representatives from the Bureau of Consular Affairs (CA),Bureau of Population, Refugees and Migration (PRM) and the DHS attache presented an update on the migration dialogue (Reftels) at the EU Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) senior level informal meeting in Madrid. At the same time, the Spanish head of the EU Council Secretariat's High Level Working Group on Migration presented the outline of the migration dialogue to the 27 member states in Brussels. Both presentations were well received and laid the groundwork for the next steps with the goal of officially launching the dialogue at the upcoming JHA Ministerial. End Summary. ¶2. (SBU) The USEU representatives from CA, PRM and DHS were among the U. S. delegation attending the EU Justice and Home Affairs (JHA) Senior level informal meeting in Madrid preparatory to the JHA Ministerial in April 2010. They informed the group about progress on shaping the migration dialogue and reviewed a number of potential projects. The EU Commission representative concurred with the U.S. aim of keeping the dialogue practical and action-oriented, opinind into a "talk shop," it wtention of the Ministers. `ting terms of referen`ifying its purpose andssolQy want to add or chan'ose already identified by the HLWG and the UnQted States. ¶4. (SBU) Bassols noted that under the Lisbon Treaty, the Commission will gradully take on more and more responsibility; howQver, it will still need to refer to the HLWG to get a mandate on how to deal with the issues. Bassols viewed the fact that the new Commisioners will not be in place until February asan opportunity to advance the HLWG's work wit the Commission, so when Malmstrom comes on board she will find a finished proposal on her table. That proposal could then form the basi for the terms of reference proposed in Madri by the Commission. Bassols recommended meetQng with USEU officers in late January or early February to discuss next steps. KENNARD