ISLAMABAD, Dec 7: Negotiations between Pakistan and the European Commission (EC) on the proposed re-admission treaty have re-opened after three member states of the European Union (EU) pointed out recently that certain provisions of the proposed treaty were in conflict with their municipal laws, it is learnt.

The agreement on ‘re-admission of persons residing without authorisation’ was almost ready to be initialled in October this year in Brussels but it had to be deferred due to what one official described as a minor hitch.

According to knowledgeable sources in the government, the draft agreement was given a go-ahead by the Cabinet but France, Spain and Portugal pointed out at the last moment that certain provisions of the treaty were in conflict with their national legislation.

The EC, therefore, again approached Pakistan and proposed reformulation of the relevant clauses. The matter is now with the Ministry of Interior, which is currently examining the proposed amendments in consultation with the Ministry of Law.

“The process of incorporating the amendments has been initiated. On completion, the draft agreement would be forwarded to the cabinet again for approval,” a diplomatic source said, adding: “Now 99 per cent of the hurdles have been removed.”

Various officials involved in this process told Dawn that the agreement was likely to be concluded by the first quarter of next year. The EC has agreed to Pakistan’s proposal that the joint declaration on the agreement would include a clause for allowing and facilitating ‘managed migration’ of Pakistani workers to the EU. However, this would be in general terms rather than in terms of any guarantees or specified quota. A concession would, therefore, be governed by requirements of each member state.

“They (EC) have agreed to it in principle without making any specific commitments on the quotas,” a senior official said.

“It is more a gentleman’s agreement,” is how another official dealing with the legal side put it.

The agreement proposed by the EC has been in the works since 2003 with the drafts going back and forth. Initially Pakistan was reluctant as the idea met with opposition from various government and political quarters. However, cold calculations of long-term economic and political dividends cleared the way for it.