Brussels, 16/03/2011 (Agence Europe) - With Italy currently in the headlines due to the number of migrants from North Africa who have arrived on its shores since mid-February, the Council of Europe held a hearing in Brussels on Wednesday 16 March on European immigration and asylum policies, sounding out the state of health of these policies since the Stockholm programme. This health check was commented on by representatives of the EP, the Commission and a number of experts, including those of the European Asylum Office.
The day before, the Council of Europe presented its guidelines to the committee of ministers in Strasbourg, regarding the hosting and treatment of migrants in Europe in situations such as those being experienced today in Italy and Malta, which are concerned at the political upheaval. These guidelines, amongst other things, lay down the principles of respecting human rights standards, with the member states called upon to observe the provisions of both the European Convention on Human Rights and the Charter of Fundamental Rights. These guidelines also consist of setting in place emergency plans in the event of mass influxes of migrants, whilst taking care to ensure that the asylum application and decision procedures are in compliance, that the human resources needed to deal with the people and the identification of their status are sufficient and that the states cooperate more with one another in these situations.
Solidarity, or lack of it, in dealing with asylum seekers and migrants was one issue put forward by the MEPs Claude Moares (S&D) and Cecilia Wikström (ADLE), who spoke out against the delays taken by the Council over the “asylum package” of the Commission and the refusal of the member states to make certain proposals reality, such as a mechanism for the temporary suspension of transfers of asylum seekers from country to country. The approach decided on as regards migrant workers also came in for criticism for being, they argue, restrictive and not fair enough. Moraes referred to the various texts on the single licence, seasonal workers and ICT workers and regretted that the Council has “fragmented all the dossiers”, thereby making it harder to implement a genuine European model for the hosting and rights of migrants. (S.P./transl.fl)