Summary

The purpose of this paper is to point out the necessity to address trafficking in human beings in a larger context of migration. The development of an overall European Union concept relating to migration in Europe is being mapped out by the European Commission, which sees the handling of migration issues in the context of the political objectives of European integration and in particular the establishment of an "Area of Freedom, Security and Justice " in the EU (COM 2000, 0757 final). The Commission is not, however, in a position autonomously to shape the legislative agenda on migration as, notwithstanding the Treaty changes introduced at Amsterdam, the Member States remain in the driving seat and their initiatives have tended to concentrate on reacting to immediate migration "pressures " rather than on building an overall strategy. Legal basis questions are beginning to arise when criminal law measures are contemplated in relation to the combating of trafficking. The very need for the approximation of laws, though foreseen in the Treaty on European Union, is questioned by some states, and- especially in the context of such a sensitive issue as migration- national legal approaches can be difficult to reconcile. Consensus within the Council on legislative measures is not easily achieved. There are, however, many practical and political pressures on the EU to agree at least a minimum o