Brussels, 22/07/2015 (Agence Europe) - Only a handful of leading European politicians reacted publicly on Monday 20 July to the outcome of the extraordinary meeting of EU home affairs ministers which failed to come to agreement on the sharing of 40,000 asylum seekers already in Italy or Greece (see EUROPE 11363).
The Italian leader of the Socialists and Democrats (S&D) in the European Parliament, Gianni Pittella was among those who felt it “farcical” that ministers had not been able to agree on how to share out the asylum seekers. “The fact that member states have failed to reach an agreement on the relocation of just 40,000 refugees after five months is ludicrous”, he said, as is the amount of time and political energy that is being wasted. “While certain EU member states bicker over whether to take 250 or 500 refugees, Turkey, Lebanon and Jordan have taken over 3.5 million”, he railed.
On Monday 20 July, despite the hopes and efforts of the Luxembourg Presidency of the Council of the EU, which had hoped to finalise how the 40,000 migrants would be shared out among the member states by the end of July, ministers could only agree on sharing 32,256. Ireland, which had an opt-out, decided to participate, taking 600 migrants, but Austria and Hungary took for themselves the right to offer no relocation places.
Commitments went better on the resettlement of 20,000 refugees currently outside the EU, with agreement being reached on 22,504 people, and transfers may be made between resettlement places and relocation places. However, EU member states alone would have failed to reach the target figure set by the European Commission at the end of May of 20,000 refugees to be taken in without the participation of associate countries, such as Norway and Switzerland. Norway alone offered to take in 3,500 people and Switzerland 519. Without the involvement of these countries and of Iceland and Liechtenstein, the member states would only have been able to offer 18,415 places.
On her Twitter account Ska Keller (Greens/EFA, Germany), who is responsible for drafting the European Parliament opinion on relocation, wondered “How on earth do member states envision solidarity and common asylum policy if they cannot even agree on such a small number?” She went as far as to speak of a “plain disaster”.
Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said on Monday evening that, “although it is difficult not to be disappointed”, very important steps had been taken, and he observed that some member states had become involved for the very first time in resettlement schemes. He expressed his optimism that the 40,000 goal would be reached by December and, he pointed out, the Commission still intends later this year to bring forward “a proposal for a fixed emergency system, to address future emergencies”.
Back to heads of state and/or government if the figure is not reached? Luxembourg Presidency representative Jean Asselborn said on Monday that relocation would begin with a first tranche and that, with this, the first year's target (20,000) would be achieved. However, a source later revealed, “if the 40,000 target figure hasn't been reached by the end of the year, we'll be in difficulty and maybe will have put the matter back to the heads of state and/or government”.
The same source also considered the position of Austria, and even Hungary, to be difficult after they opted to take in no migrants as part of relocation, and Hungary took no one as part of the resettlement scheme. While the last European Council decided on 25 June that the sharing of migrants would be done on a voluntary and consensual basis, the conclusions state that all member states are bound by the decision to share the 40,000 people.
The relocation target is part of the decision pursuant to Article 78 (3) approved by ministers on Monday, which is legally binding. The Luxembourg Presidency will prepare an overview before the end of the year and possibly by November, Asselborn said. His country has so far only offered 320 relocation places, lower than the 368 suggested by the Commission at the end of May.
Alongside the general approach that was approved on the emergency aid measures for Italy and Greece, these two countries pledged to implement “hotspots” and the Commission will be able, at any time, to suspend the relocation process if Greece and Italy fail to comply with their obligations on registering and fingerprinting migrants.
It was agreed, too, that it would no longer be only Syrian and Eritrean nationals who could seek relocation but that Iraqis and Somalis could also apply to be relocated. The Council also adopted a note calling on the member states to follow the Commission recommendations of late May on best practices for fingerprinting of migrants fully complying with the EURODAC regulation. (Solenn Paulic)