Brussels, 26/06/2015 (Agence Europe) -Long and difficult it may have been but, after several hours of discussions, the heads of state and/or government, meeting in Brussels on Thursday evening 25 June, finally reached agreement on sharing out among their countries 40,000 migrants in need of international protection and 20,000 refugees currently living in third countries.
The EU leaders were not able at this stage, however, to give the precise arrangements and have left it to their home affairs ministers over the course of the month of July to work out the figures of the agreement, which will “relieve” Italy of 24,000 migrants in the next two years and Greece, 16,000.
As European Council President Donald Tusk had indicated at the outset of the meeting, the idea of compulsory quotas for sharing the 40,000 asylum seekers did not win the necessary support, with the member states preferring an essentially voluntary mechanism. It was also agreed that Bulgaria and Hungary would be accorded special treatment in view of the migratory pressure they are both facing. These two countries are expected to be allowed to take in fewer migrants than the others.
Between now and the end of July, each member state will have to announce how many migrants it is willing to take, the trick being not to fall below the target figure of 40,000 but without stating how to achieve it. The countries' commitments on the numbers of asylum seekers they will accept are to be inserted in an annex to the Council decision and approved by consensus, according to a source.
EU not matching up, says Juncker. At the press conference following the meeting, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker said that it mattered little whether the sharing was compulsory or voluntary, what was important was to get the commitment on 40,000 people. He regretted, however, that discussion had taken so many long hours in this debate about methodology (voluntary/compulsory) and on ideology. He said that it is about people, and that, in truth, giving 60,000 people the prospect of a better life is not asking very much. That it takes hours to reach agreement proves clearly that the EU is not matching up to the level of the ambitions it proclaims, he lamented, expressing the hope that the objectives set would, indeed, be met.
Donald Tusk, for his part, underlined the importance of the return and readmission measures for illegal migrants and the identification and registration of migrants arriving in the EU. Only at the last did he speak of solidarity and the agreement on the 40,000 people. Several sources had spoken during the evening of tensions running high between the presidents of the Council and of the Commission and even of a clash on the legal basis of the proposal. The two men later denied that there had been any differences.
Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, who is reported to have been roundly critical of his colleagues during the meeting, said afterwards that the agreement “is a first step towards a European policy”. “The Dublin (regulation) principles have now been consigned to the past. The present is common values”, he said. “If solidarity had not been shown for such a small number (of migrants) as 40,000, Europe would have been a laughing stock”, he stated.
“Whether the migrants are to be shared out on a voluntary basis or not is a very sensitive question”, conceded German Chancellor Angela Merkel, in explaining the reasons for the length of the discussions. “It took a long time because these issues are particularly sensitive in all the countries”, stated French President François Hollande. “Because, if volunteering is the same as 'I'd rather not do anything', that is not an acceptable idea. And if compulsion means figures that can be challenged, that is not the right way forward. That is why I disagreed with the idea of quotas”, he added, before acknowledging “a few tense moments during the discussion” though “that is only to be expected”. (Solenn Paulic with EH, CG, AN, PH)