Brussels, 24/09/2015 (Agence Europe) - Meeting the day after the decision by the EU interior ministers on the relocation of 120,000 asylum seekers in the EU, the European leaders agreed during the night of Wednesday 23 September on the operational measures for responding to the refugee crisis. These measures will have to be adopted by the October summit (see EUROPE 11394).
This meeting - which took place in a climate that was “much better than expected”, to use the words of the presidents of the Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, and the Council, Donald Tusk - dealt with strengthening the resources allocated to the European Frontex, Europol and EASO agencies as the Commission had proposed the same day (an envelope of €1.3 million). It also dealt with the increased means to the emergency funding for the management of the migration flows and borders (see other article).
The EU leaders also decided to help the so-called front-line countries, like Italy and Greece, and to support their requests regarding personnel to identify and register migrants in the so-called hotspots. It was agreed that these hotspots (or migrant reception and registration centres) will be operational in November 2015 at the latest. According to Austria's Chancellor Werner Faymann, this is “a breakthrough”.
This timetable aims especially at putting pressure on Athens, which is having difficulty making its Piraeus hotspot operational. Earlier on Wednesday, Juncker spoke of this issue with Greece's Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras, reminding him of the aid available, sources close to Juncker state. Greece, Juncker said, can take advantage of the Frontex rapid border intervention teams (the Rabit teams) on its borders. However, Tsipras had still not signalled his intention on Wednesday to make such a request.
The hotspots (or “migration management support teams”, as the Commission now calls them), were the subject of an in-depth discussion at the summit. According to the European leaders, these teams will ensure the welcome, identification and digital finger-printing of migrants arriving in Europe, and will use the procedures for returning the migrants or relocating them to other member states. Bulgaria has asked to receive a hotspot arrangement, as well as Greece and Italy. The European leaders also spoke about the usefulness of moving towards a European coastguard system, a source stated. Although the summit statement does not mention this, the Commission will propose such a system at the end of 2015.
For Tusk, this summit - which also enabled cooperation with Turkey to be discussed and the help to Syria's neighbouring countries that are housing millions of refugees - was the opportunity to acknowledge that “the chaos at the external borders must stop”. From the start, Tusk has said that without coherent management of the external borders, it is the Schengen structure that would be in danger. He noted that among the leaders there was “common understanding that things can no longer continue as before”.
After much tension over recent weeks linked to the reintroduction of temporary checks at the internal borders, the leaders stated that the current so-called Dublin and Schengen rules should be applied and that the means should also be given to all member states to comply with these. This is a signal sent to Greece, which has been in a special situation as regards the Dublin rules since a ruling of the European Court of Human Rights in 2011.
For Tusk, this informal summit turned out to be “promising” for the October European Council (which will also focus on the issue of migration) with “no one having blamed his partners”. Other sources have confirmed that the decision on relocating 120,000 people, which was adopted by qualified majority, was not mentioned at this summit and that no protest was raised. There was reportedly just a lively exchange between Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel, with Merkel apparently telling Orban that the decision to suspend the Dublin rules for the Syrians was in no way “an invitation” to come to Germany.
For France's President François Hollande, although the EU “has done its duty, it must respect the rules that organise it - external borders, Schengen and the Dublin agreements”. The hotspots “can't only be registration centres. Means need to be provided so that the formalities linked to asylum might be quickly fulfilled and so that those people who don't meet them might have returns that are dignified”, he added. He also said that no country “challenged yesterday's principles, which were the focus of our discussions today” and that “no country said it wanted to be released from its obligations”.
Luxembourg's Prime Minster Xavier Bettel said the summit recorded that “Dublin is still in force”. To his mind, the 28 EU member states are still not on the reform route although they are considering this and beginning to wonder if it is time to have an in-depth reform of the system. For Italy's Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, the discussions at the summit gave a glimpse of, “more or less, the end of the Dublin principles”. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic with MB, CG, AN, JK, PH).