NEW SPANISH-BELGIAN ROW OVER ASYLUM<
A former ETA activist, Juan Cruz Maiztegui, who tried to enter Belgium with false documents, was set free by the Belgian authorities in August after the Belgian Refugee Commissioner allowed the man's asylum application to be forwarded to the examination procedure.
The Spanish Government expressed "surprise and shock" at the Belgian authorities' handling of the case. The Madrid government had earlier tried to get Brussels to expel Mr Maiztegui to Mexico, where he had been living for the last 5 years. These efforts appear instead to have been fairly counterproductive.
The Spanish government is furious at the Belgian decision to consider Mr Maiztegui's asylum application in apparent disregard of recent EU asylum policy statements according to which, as a rule, asylum applications from nationals of a EU member state are not to be considered in another member state. The rule is given in a protocol attached to the Amsterdam Treaty that has not yet entered into force. It is based on the assumption by the EU governments that nobody on the territory of the EU can suffer political persecution since all member states regard each other as stable constitutional democracies.
"The proceedings of the Belgian authorities are an insult to every Spaniard; we are being treated like a banana republic", said Rosa Diez, a socialist politician from the Basque region.
With the backing of the country's press, the Spanish government is now blaming Belgium for not having adapted national foreigner and asylum law to EU law in the field.
Source: Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 22.8.98.