Brussels, 30/09/2014 (Agence Europe) - An ardent defender of human dignity, firmly opposed to the notion of “fortress Europe” and strong firm supporter of the Schengen area of free movement. These were the very human features the outgoing Greek defence minister, Dimitris Avramopoulos, presented on Tuesday 30 September to MEPs from the civil liberties committee (LIBE) at the European Parliament who were assessing his skills for the role of commissioner for migration and home affairs.
The candidate is a member of the EPP and was particularly anxious to calm a number of heated debates of the moment, such as immigrants arriving on European shores and foreign fighters leaving to fight for Islamic State in Syria and Iraq. Avramopoulos also separated himself several times from a controversial events, such as the Greek government's construction of a barbed wire fence along the Greek-Turkish border. He said that, personally, “I do not support these fences” but also referred to a similar barrier built by the Spanish authorities in Ceuta.
According to Claude Moraes, the British S&D chair of the LIBE committee, Avramopoulos was “well prepared and competent”. The commissioner-candidate also made a number of other announcements that were likely to earn him support. The real hot potato during the Barroso II Commission was the Dublin II regulation, which decided the country responsible for dealing with asylum requests, which will be the subject of a new evaluation and … possibly, a revision in certain areas. The outgoing commissioner, Cecilia Malmström, had clashed over recent years with countries in northern Europe, which remained intransigent on this question and had failed to get them to accept a suspension clause for the transfer of migrants between countries. Avramopoulos did not provide any precise indications of what direction these changes could go in but they are expected to be to the benefit of southern European countries, which have been calling for renewed solidarity for a long time.
Another commitment that the future commissioner made if he were to be confirmed in his position was to put forward of a new draft directive on data retention. This directive was quashed last April by the European Court of Justice, which deemed it disproportionate and without sufficient substantiation. The principles enunciated by the Court will be scrupulously respected and taken into account during the drafting of this proposal. The same goes for the future European PNR project, which the European Council has asked to reactivate on two occasions in an effort to pre-empt the return to European soil of non-combatants, who, according to available estimates, currently number around 3,000. The civil liberties committee threw this dossier out in April 2013 and, if it is to see the light of day in the future, it will have to respect the same principles of proportionality and respect for fundamental rights. In the meantime, it will also be necessary to ensure completion of the package recasting European data protection rules, which is “essential” and whose provisions will logically be enhanced compared to the 1995 directive and will apply horizontally, said Avramopoulos.
Other positions the minister took were: a commitment to strengthening and developing legal means of migration, which depend on two imperatives, economic and humanitarian. In the first respect, Avramopoulos is keen to assess the shortcomings in the blue card directive, which seeks to attract highly qualified workers, even though he rejects the idea that the EU is causing a brain drain from third countries. The negotiations on the researchers and students from third countries directives are also expected to be completed. On humanitarian aspects, he has taken ownership of an idea developed by Malmström following the Lampedusa tragedy, namely, setting up humanitarian corridors for refugees. This will involve, in parallel with the resettlement system, granting humanitarian visas at member states consulates and other representations in third countries, in order to prevent refugees making the perilous journeys to the EU. At the time, member states did not show much enthusiasm for the measure, although certain countries are already operating in this way in an individual capacity.
“Let's not be afraid of migration but let's strengthen Frontex”
Avramopoulos said that it was necessary to “encourage humanitarian entry points”. Nonetheless, having promised to “oppose any measure that would make the EU into a fortress” and having called on MEPs and member states “not to be afraid of migration”, he has not forgotten, either, that certain borders, starting with that of his own country, are leaky and fragile with regard to illegal migrant entries. The commissioner-candidate said that strengthening the Frontex agency would, thus, also be very important. He also pointed out that it would be necessary to increase budgetary resources, and possibly its missions, even though he did not explicitly indicate whether Frontex should, in the long term, be given a sea rescue operations mandate. He pointed out that this was a matter for the member states but posed the question of whether this system was efficient. One possible avenue to be explored in the long term is the possible setting up of a European border guard, an extremely contentious idea that was once again reactivated at the end of August by the European Council. Notwithstanding what becomes of Frontex, its work will have to be carried out in full respect of fundamental rights and “any forced repatriation must be proscribed”. Over the three-hour hearing, the commissioner-designate was obviously rather more vague on other subjects, evading, for example, questions on the complicity of member states with the CIA but at no time did he find himself in any serious difficulty. As we went to press, committee coordinators were discussing the performance of the commissioner-candidate. (SP)