Brussels, 10/07/2015 (Agence Europe) - In a resolution adopted in plenary session on Wednesday 8 July, the Committee of the Regions (CoR) called on the member states to make more resources available to regions and cities so that they can cope with the influx of migrants.
Highlighting that “lack of forward planning” and “the inability to prepare for reception sufficiently in advance” lie at the root of the current crisis, the CoR urges member states to cooperate with local and regional authorities in the implementation and operation of the emergency relocation mechanism that has been proposed by the European Commission.
The Committee calls, therefore, for a greater role for European structural and investment funds can play in managing migratory flows. Thus, while welcoming the budget increase for Poseidon, which has been organising patrols in the Eastern Mediterranean since 2006, and Triton, which has been maintaining surveillance off the Italian coast since 2014 (see EUROPE 11323), the CoR stresses “the need for a mechanism that will provide for a further increase in this budget”.
It also urges the member states to demonstrate solidarity so that the migrants can be relocated, a particularly contentious issue that gave rise to stormy debates among the member states last month (see EUROPE 11343).
The CoR highlights the importance of closer engagement with third countries so that they are better able to manage migratory flows within their own borders and to save the lives of migrants in distress. The Committee is of the view that at least 0.7% of GNI should be given to development aid - that is, that the member states meet their commitments (see EUROPE 11327). It also suggests that EU-LISA (Agency for Large-Scale IT Systems) develop “a comprehensive data-sharing system on the subject of migration and local authorities”.
Only the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) Group did not vote for the position adopted by the CoR, taking the view that the regions should not be involved in this issue, migration policy being a matter reserved to the member states, a CoR source told EUROPE. (Pascal Hansens)