Brussels, 27/05/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 27 May, the European Commission said that it intended to apply the emergency resettlement mechanism for 40,000 asylum seekers. This will apply to those who have arrived on Italian and Greek shores since 15 April and not just future arrivals, as was previously indicated (see EUROPE 11321).
This important clarification was made on Wednesday morning at the College of Commissioners, said a source. Dimitris Avramopoulos and Frans Timmermans pointed out that the migratory crisis began at that time, particularly with the sinking on 18 April of the boat in which almost 800 people lost their lives and which led to the special summit of 23 April. The so-called Article 78.3 mechanism also seeks to respond to immediate emergency situations, which explains why it will be activated retroactively in an effort to ease the situation in the two countries which will benefit from it, Italy and Greece. This clarification is the main new measure contained in the package announced on Wednesday b Migration Commissioner Avramopoulos, the majority of initiatives having already been unveiled on 13 May with the presentation of the agenda for migration.
Despite the fact that initial responses from the member states were rather cool, the European Commission has not backed down on its objective of compelling member states to distribute the burden of migrants arriving on the southern shores of the EU. Avramopoulos was adamant that there would be no mention of quotas, “a term that we have never used” (Jean-Claude Juncker used the term, however, on 28 April during a European Parliament debate) and one that the Commission believes is too rigid because it would, in fact, restrict the number of people who could claim international protection. The commissioner confirmed that the emergency resettlement mechanism would be mandatory and focus on the 40,000 people of mainly Syrian and Eritrean nationality.
These two nationalities have an asylum recognition rate that is above 75% in the EU. Of the 40,000 people, 24,000 will be resettled from Italy and 16,000 from Greece to all the member states or at least to 23 other member states because Ireland and the United Kingdom have opt-in rights and have said that they did not want to participate in the project, as has Denmark, which has a total opt-out.
Malta has hitherto not been considered to be in a too tense a situation in this regard but it has previously experienced sudden influxes of migrants and could therefore be exempt from the resettlement mechanism, if it does experience another crisis. Malta, like all the other member states in the EU, could also call for activation of such a mechanism in the future, if it is confronted with a sudden migratory crisis.
At the same time as this announcement was made, the Commission also confirmed that the referral programme for resettling refugees currently hosted in non-EU countries would focus on 20,000 people and a two-year period. The Commission is expecting member states to make a commitment to the number of places available by September. An additional €50 million will be provided for the asylum migration immigration fund (AMIF) for this programme. The relocation programme will be funded over a two-year period to the tune of €240 million and participating member states will receive €6,000 for each asylum seeker resettled.
In the redistribution system, Germany will be expected to take in 5,258 people from Italy and 3,505 from Greece. France will take in 4,051 people from Italy and 2,701 from Greece. Spain and Poland are the next two countries subject to most demands in this connection (2,573 and 1,715 for Spain and 1,595 and 1,064 for Poland). With regard to the resettlement programme, Germany is being asked to take in 3,086 refugees currently being sheltered in UN camps and France is being asked to take in 2,375. Italy will be affected by this measure and is being requested to resettle 1,989 refugees. The United Kingdom is also being called on to take in 2,309 people.
Avoiding any risk of abuse. In order to benefit from “relocation”, Italy and Greece will first of all have to increase their efforts when it comes to taking the fingerprints of these migrants, failing which, it might not be possible to relocate these people to another member state. EASO will be in the field to help the authorities in these two countries sort out the migrants who are likely to obtain asylum from the economic migrants who will be sent back to their respective countries. Each member state will remain in charge of granting international protection status even though, in principle, relocated candidates are supposed to meet all the conditions necessary to obtain this protection.
The relocation procedure will be “swift”, says the Commission and the migrants concerned will not have a choice about the country they are sent to. The Commission, however, explained that several criteria must be taken into account by the Italian and Greek authorities when transfers are made to other member states, such as the overriding interest of children or maintaining family ties. This period between identifying asylum seekers and their transfer to another European country should not, in any case, exceed a month.
Avramopoulos believes that the Commission plan is “balanced” and “fair”. Alluding to the “misunderstandings” there were in the beginning, he said that he was convinced that the member states “will understand that our policy is based on objective criteria… We either apply or don't apply solidarity”. He also referred to the member states, such as the United Kingdom, for which the project remains pending, to come to a clear position. The commissioner is hoping that the respective home secretaries meeting in Luxembourg will give the go-ahead to these proposals.
Other initiatives. The Commission also welcomed the new Triton operational plan, the Frontex Agency mission presented the day before and which is expected to “cover the former Mare Nostrum field of operations”. Triton is expected to have 10 maritime units, 23 terrestrial units and 8 in the air, as well as manpower of 121. The action plan against migrant trafficking also seeks to monitor vessels and boats and draw up a list of suspect vessels, as well as monitor social networks and the recruitment by traffickers of people wanting to cross the Mediterranean. As well as the guidelines on taking fingerprints, the Commission launched a consultation on the blue card directive that is supposed to attract talent from third countries but which is largely underused, except by Germany.
The EPP Group at the European Parliament warmly welcomed the proposals, which, Monika Hohlmeier said went in the right direction. Eva Joly from the Greens/EFA welcomed them as “an important step towards the fair redistribution of refugees in the European Union. This is a resolutely European proposal, a proposal that goes in the right direction”. Nonetheless, she did call on member states to now take action. For the ECR Group, Timothy Kirkhope said that the Commission proposals would not, however, “resolve the causes of the migrant crisis”. (Solenn Paulic)