Brussels,17/07/2015(Agence Europe) - Managing, in the space of three hours, to get the home affairs ministers of the EU to approve a decision on the relocation in the member states of 40,000 migrants in need of international protection, a resolution on the distribution of these 40,000 migrants and conclusions on the so-called safe countries of origin. All of that, plus a debate on tightening up the returns policy and the obligations of Italy and Greece towards the migrants arriving on their soil.
That is the aim of the Luxembourg Presidency of the Council of the EU, which is to hold an extraordinary meeting of the home affairs ministers on Monday 20 July. Amongst other things, it wants to stick to the timetable laid down by the heads of state or government on 25 June this year when they agreed on housing 40,000 people from Italy and Greece in the other member states and on a distribution key before the end of July.
On 17 July, it was still by no means certain that the promise would be upheld. “Clearly, the figures are better on resettlement (20,000 refugees identified by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees) them on relocation”, a diplomatic source explained. Of a total of 60,000, “we are not there yet”.
In any case, the Luxembourg Presidency has chosen to communicate as little as possible about these 'figures', as certain countries have already announced their intentions, such as France and Germany in Luxembourg on 9 July (see EUROPE 11355), with others expected to turn up on Monday with their detailed contributions. Even so, Luxembourg does not anticipate that the proposed decision approving the relocation mechanism (based on article 78.3 of the Treaty) will be approved without a parallel agreement on the 'distribution'. Indeed, it is within the framework of this decision on the mechanism that all of the quid pro quos to relocalisation, such as the obligations of Greece and Germany in terms of registration and taking fingerprints, hotspots and the returns policy, will be dealt with.
However, when it comes to the distribution of the migrants in itself, a number of points remain to be dealt with, such as the involvement of countries which are in a “specific situation”, the source continued, as is the case with Hungary. Austria has also complained of problems in recent weeks. Bulgaria, too is one of the points of entry into the EU, from Greece. The Luxembourg Presidency on Friday declined to comment on whether these countries could secure an arrangement. However, in order to cover the overall total of 60,000 migrants to be hosted, it is planning to do a bit of juggling between resettlement and relocation mechanisms, possibly moving the 'surplus' of available places under resettlement into relocation.
It also plans to expand the debate, as relocation is key to the discussions, “but possibly wrongly”, the same source went on. Certain countries feel that it is more important to start to set the Commission's famous hotspots in place and to consolidate the returns policy for illegal migrants, rather than tackle the distribution of these 40,000 people as a priority. Other member states, on the other hand, feel that an agreement on relocation would allow the whole house to be brought into order.
Some countries also take the view that the various agencies of the EU, such as the Valletta-based European Asylum Support Office (EASO) and Frontex, should have a more 'intrusive' role in Italy and in Greece. The first hotspots, aid mechanisms to the frontline countries and the identification of migrants have in any case been launched in Sicily and the port of Piraeus, in Greece, is to put such a mechanism in place shortly.
Message to the Balkan states
The ministers will have a total of five documents on the table on Monday, including draft conclusions on the 20,000 people currently outside the EU to be resettled in the EU. A distribution table will also be appended to these conclusions. The conclusions on the safe countries of origin will lay particular emphasis on the Western Balkan countries, which have become a major immigration land route. Between January and May 2015, nationals of Bosnia & Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo, FYROM and Albania were the number-one group submitting asylum applications, overtaking the Syrians, even though the number of applications in May 2015 was down 19% from April (nearly 50% fewer applications from Kosovars).
As things stand, there is no Community list of safe countries (countries which fulfil the criteria allowing nationals to claim asylum) and these conclusions could discuss the need for a legal instrument of this kind. The European Commissioner for Migration, Dimitris Avramopoulos, wrote to the ministers on 15 July regarding all of these issues. In his letter, he detailed, amongst other things, how the role of the EASO will be bolstered in determining the safe countries of origin. Another note explains the role of Frontex, for instance in the hotspots set in place in Sicily and the one to be created in Piraeus. (Solenn Paulic)