Brussels, 25/08/2015 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission is still hopeful that the member states would approve its proposals that seek to address the migration crisis and hopes that there will be support for its proposal, due to be brought forward by the end of the year, for a permanent mechanism for sharing migrants among the member states, said its spokesperson Natasha Bertaud on Tuesday 25 August.
The Commission was responding to the meeting in Berlin in the late afternoon of Monday 24 August between the German and French leaders, Angela Merkel and François Hollande, who called for a unified asylum system to be put in place and for the setting up of migrant vetting centres to be speeded up (see EUROPE 11364 & 11363).
The two leaders also renewed their call for asylum seekers to be shared fairly among all 28 member states. Berlin has just suspended the Dublin rules for Syrian nationals. In practice, this means that Germany will no longer return Syrian asylum seekers to the country through which they first entered the EU.
The Commission welcomed this move and this demonstration of solidarity towards refugees and other European countries, said Bertaud. “Member states cannot be left to deal with this situation on their own”, she stated.
In Berlin on Monday, the German and French leaders called for a “unified” response from the EU to the migrant crisis for the asylum package rules to be brought into operation “as quickly as possible”. These rules contain, inter alia, the Eurodac regulation on registering migrants and the Dublin regulation which sets out which country should be responsible for handling asylum requests. Merkel also argued that migrant vetting centres have to be put in place very quickly in Italy and Greece, delays having been incurred with the Piraeus centre.
The Commission, however, did not take these comments as criticism of what it is doing, stated Bertaud, on the contrary, believing them to be “encouraging”. The asylum package, which improves the processing and responsibility for asylum requests in the EU was finalised only in April 2013 and transposition into national laws completed in late July 2015, Bertaud pointed out. This, she said, explained why there are still shortcomings in implementation. Thirty two infringement procedures have been opened against member states in relation to recently amended or older texts, she went on to point out.
She did, however, concede that things had perhaps not moved “as quickly as we would have liked” since April, when the gravity of the situation in the Mediterranean Sea became clear. She acknowledged that progress was being made more quickly on the so-called “hotspots”, or migrant vetting centres, in Italy than in Greece, where the administrative work required takes longer.
Hungary askes for €8 million. In theory, “hotspots”, which bring together experts from the Commission, the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) and member states, can be put into effect quickly, Bertaud said. And Hungary, where over 2,000 migrants and refugees arrived via Serbia between 24 and 25 August, could also have hotspots set up there and could also see the migrant relocation mechanism, already in place for Greece and Italy, extended to include it.
For the time being, Budapest has not requested that any hotspots be set up. The Hungarian government has, however, submitted a request for €8 million in emergency financing to help it cope with the situation. This request will be fast-tracked by the Commission so that the money can be made available from European emergency funds, the budgets of which were “doubled in the month of May” when the European agenda on migration was presented, Bertaud stated.
The migration situation in the Balkans, and especially in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM), which last week declared a state of emergency in light of the influx of migrants and even authorised the use of tear gas to disperse crowds, will be discussed at an enlargement event to be held in Vienna on 26 and 27 August.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel will attend this meeting, which, according to EuObserver, is expected to bring forward a 5-point action plan which will include aid to the Balkan states and identification of genuine asylum seekers.
European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker will set out the forthcoming proposals to address the crisis in his state of the Union speech in Strasbourg on 9 September, Bertaud said. (Solenn Paulic)