Brussels, 16/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 16 September, the European Parliament decided to endorse an emergency procedure to hold a vote on Thursday on the emergency relocation mechanism for 120,000 more migrants. The Parliament is only consulted on this issue, but this would send a strong signal for the new emergency Council meeting of EU justice and home affairs minsters on Tuesday 22 September to try to agree on the mechanism put forward by the Commission and clear away the semi-failure of the first emergency Council meeting (on Monday 14 September).
The request for an emergency vote was suggested by the president of the European Parliament, Martin Schulz, and it was approved by a show of hands. Schulz said the refugee crisis demands rapid action to find a solution and he therefore timetabled the vote for 10.00am. The Parliament is expected to pass the vote, as it did on 9 September, endorsing the emergency relocation arrangement for 40,000 migrants proposed in May.
The Parliament is expected this time to vote on a different proposal from those initially proposed by the Commission, explained the acting president of the Council, Luxembourg's asylum and immigration minister Jean Asselborn, because Hungary does not want to benefit from the relocation of 54,000 migrants. Hungary is not therefore expected to be viewed by the Parliament as a beneficiary country.
During the debate on the 14 September meeting, most of the political groups expressed disappointment at the home affairs ministers' failure to reach agreement on the relocation of 120,000 new asylum-seekers. Gonzales Ponson from the EPP Group said that it was a realistic proposal that respects dignity and fair treatment and allows solidarity among all member states. It was a proposal that would help build Europe and the world we believe in, he said. The head of the S&D Group at the Parliament, Gianni Pittella, said it was time to make progress, adding that external border management measures were also needed, along with aid to set up the long awaited hotspots to identify migrants arriving in Italy and Greece.
The head of the ALDE Group, Guy Verhofstadt of Belgium, called once again for a full European summit to consider a broader approach to the refugee crisis, while other political groups, such as the ECR, rejected the idea of quotas. On the far right, Marine le Pen's group said it was a policy that was shot to pieces.
The president of the European Council, Donald Tusk, will decide on Thursday whether to convene a special European summit. This is not backed by either the Luxembourg Presidency of the Council of the EU or by the European Commission. Asselborn said on Wednesday that he was not convinced that a European summit was the best way forward, pointing out that the 25 June summit had nipped the idea of compulsory quotas in the bud. He admitted that the debate would be tricky next Tuesday. The Presidency's idea is to avoid the vote being taken by a qualified majority, which would mean a split between West and East Europe since the Visegrad countries in the East are among those most hostile to the migrant sharing system. The Presidency will try to find wording that all member states can go along with, particularly the most hostile countries - Slovakia and the Czech Republic. On Monday 14 September, Slovakia demanded that the debate be about a voluntary system and that this be written in the conclusions document that will be published, explained a source on Wednesday.
Working groups and two meetings of the sherpas on the Permanent Representatives Committee (COREPER), one in the afternoon of Sunday 20 September and one on Monday 21 September, are planned to work towards a compromise. The idea of penalties for countries refusing to take migrants, which was mooted on Monday by Germany's home affairs minister, Thomas de Maizière, is not under consideration. The Presidency's aim is to have the Commission's proposal passed on Tuesday. For the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 8 October, it wants a general approach to be agreed upon for the safe country list. The permanent and compulsory sharing mechanism will depend in part on the fate reserved by ministers on Tuesday to the relocation mechanism for a further 120,000 migrants.
The European Commission hopes that the ministers on Tuesday will agree on the emergency mechanism, by consensus where possible. It also wants special summits only to be convened for big issues, such as Syria, Frontex's operational resources or the operation of the increasingly criticised Schengen area. On Tuesday 16 September, France said that it, too, was prepared to restore border controls if necessary. (Solenn Paulic)