Brussels, 04/03/2015 (Agence Europe) - The future global approach on migration from the European Commission will be presented in the middle of next May. It will focus on four priorities: improving the European asylum systems, strengthening the Frontex agency and its budget, opening up new legal migration channels (including the revision of the “blue card” directive) and the fight against illegal immigration by cooperating with countries of departure and transit and the fight against criminal human trafficking networks.
These clarifications constitute the main thrust of the announcements made on Wednesday 4 March by European Commission Vice-President, Frans Timmermans and the Commissioner for Migration, Dimitris Avramopoulos, at the end of an initial orientation debate at the College of Commissioners, described by the two men as being both “long” and “profound”.
The two men spoke after the announcement made by the Italian coastguard regarding the sinking of another ship off the Sicilian coast, which has led to the death of 10 migrants. They did not provide substantial details of the proposals that are going to be presented by the Commission but did again highlight the solidarity from member states called for, particularly with regard to increasing the number of reception centres for refugees and the section on strengthening the EU's external borders and the Frontex agency. Avramopoulos emphasised that member states should fully implement the new common European asylum system. He also said he understood the difficulties encountered by certain member states with the “Dublin II” Regulation, which organises the repatriation between the EU 28 of asylum seekers to the first place of responsibility (where the asylum seeker first arrived in the EU).
Let's talk about Dublin 2… Don't change it yet
Avramopoulos said that he was “open” to the idea of discussing “Dublin II” with member states. This text has the adverse effect of sending back hundreds of asylum candidates to countries with poorer infrastructure, such as Italy and Greece or even Bulgaria, the countries in which thousands of Syrians have entered the EU. Nonetheless, Vice-President Timmermans quickly brought his colleague up to speed and explained that this was not about revising this regulation but simply evaluating what could be improved within the existing rules. The previous Commissioner in charge of these questions, Cecilia Malmström, had already failed to revise the Dublin system, with the so-called countries of the North such as Germany, France and Sweden, opposing a clause for suspending the transfers of asylum seekers to the countries where they had entered the EU. These countries have always highlighted the fact that they receive and grant more demands for asylum than countries in southern Europe, which has been confirmed by Eurostat. In the current asylum package adopted in 2013, an early warning mechanism was introduced (in exchange for this suspension clause) to alert member states as early as possible about the obstacles or shortcomings observed in a given country.
The two men also highlighted the importance of legal migration channels from a humanitarian and economic point of view. In the first section, the idea would be to enable refugees to come to Europe more easily by avoiding dangerous journeys. To this end, Avramopoulos repeated his determination to get member states to grant visas in the countries from whence the migrants depart. He would also like to discuss resettlement facilities provided by member states to refugees fleeing war. Just 36,000 places have so far been offered to Syrians by EU countries. From an economic point of view, the Commission is not denying existing unemployment rates in member states but considers that due to demographic restraints, the EU will, nevertheless, need labour from non-EU countries. The Commission is launching a consultation among the different stakeholders affected and will examine the possibility of revising the “blue card” directive, which is supposed to attract the best brains from third countries.
With regard to the question of making the external borders secure, the two EU leaders expressed a wish for member states to make a commitment to the Frontex agency budget. During the election campaign, Jean-Claude Juncker described the Frontex agency budget as derisory (€90 million a year). In 2015, this budget was increased to €114 million, due to a decision by the previous Commission but nothing is yet definitive with regard to the years to come. Frontex's task appears to be more complex. According to the most recent statistics the number of immigrants illegally entering the EU almost tripled in 2014, with around 274,000 illegal immigrants in 2014, compared to slightly more than 100,000 in 2013. It is particularly with the intention to put the brakes on these departures of migrants that the Commission also wants to work with third countries of origin or transit, as well as fight against the criminal networks making money from migrants, Syrian refugees or others. In certain cases, this kind of cooperation would involve discussions with dictators, acknowledged Avramopoulos, “which does not in any way give political legitimacy to their regimes”. This discussion with African countries was particularly given a boost last November in Rome as part of the Khartoum Process, with countries like Eritrea, Sudan, Southern Sudan, Tunisia and even Ethiopia and Kenya. The EU High Representative, Federica Mogherini, pointed out that this cooperation was crucial particularly with regard to tackling the Libyan question. Italy has asked Avramopoulos to take part in the EU Foreign Affairs Council on 16 March. Immigration will be on the agenda.
These Commission announcements were not to the liking of the Greens at the EP. Judith Sargentini (Greens/EFA, Netherlands), said that it was somewhat cynical to propose strategy that was “so empty” on the day of another tragedy. She also criticised the brakes exerted by Timmermans on the revision of Dublin 2. Amnesty International said that this agenda appeared to be “dangerously incomplete”. The NGO deplores the fact that no at sea rescue operation has been announced to replace Mare Nostrum. The current Triton operation that the Commission is going to extend until the end of 2015 does not, according to Amnesty, carry enough weight to tackle the flows of immigration and the numbers of ships that have been recorded as sinking. (Solenn Paulic)