Brussels, 08/10/2015 (Agence Europe) - Meeting in Luxembourg on Thursday 8 October, the EU's interior ministers agreed on a raft of measures to boost management of the EU's external borders and, as a condition for their support of refugee hosting programmes, agreed to accelerate the procedures for returning economic migrants not entitled to remain in the EU. The ministers discussed implementation of the first relocating of refugees, from Italy, and progress with the hotspots that are due to come on-stream by December. Internal Affairs and Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos and the current chair of the Council of the EU, Luxembourg's asylum and migration minister Jean Asselborn, will travel to Rome on 9 October and then on to Lampedusa (from where 16 Eritrean refugees are to be relocated to Sweden), before travelling to Athens to discuss progress in setting up the hotspots.
After the time it took to decide on relocation, the ministers tried on Thursday to decide how migration crises can be managed in future and how the numbers of arrivals can be controlled. We have always said that we are working on a package, said Asselborn. There is not just one measure but a whole package of measures that can take effect, he explained.
In practice, it was mainly conclusions on the return of illegal migrants that the ministers adopted. We have always said that we have to protect people needing international protection, but those who do not need international protection must return to their country of origin, said Asselborn, adding that these returns are a precondition for creating space for people genuinely needing protection. These conclusions include the returns action plan unveiled by the European Commission on 9 September and stress the role of the Frontex agency, where a special returns office will be set up. Frontex will support the member states, which retain their power over the management of returns. Asselborn said there would be ten joint returns flights organised by Frontex, but more would be needed. Cooperation with the migrants' countries of origin or transit must also be stepped up and the member states want to focus on West Africa and implementation of the returns aspect of the Cotonou Agreement, which is not being applied. Dialogue also needs to be pursued with Pakistan, said Asselborn. Avramopoulos is planning to travel to Pakistan at the end of October.
The ministers want to enhance their databases, by extending the Schengen Information System, for example, which should include all returns decisions taken by the member states, or the EURODAC regulation on asylum seekers' fingerprints, which should also include information about returns decisions. The VIS visa system also needs adjusting. The minsters took on board the more-for-more idea to provide financial assistance or aid in the form of dialogue on visas for counties that help the EU by taking back their nationals and introducing conditions. Asselborn announced the deployment of immigration liaison staff to a number of countries in Africa and the Middle East by the end of 2015.
On the future of external borders, the Luxembourg Presidency said that most member states have accepted the idea of shared management, which will require a strengthening of the Frontex agency and additional staffing. Nothing will work if there are failings in the controls at external borders, explained Asselborn. The question of the survival of Schengen is reported to have been raised. The ministers pledged on Thursday to respond favourably to the call from Frontex last week for 775 seconded national experts, promising to send 670, added Asselborn.
Some of the debate was about the notorious European border guard system, for which the Commission will be publishing proposals at the end of 2015. The French have suggested a two-stage system with a European system to enhance the current border guard deployment options in sensitive areas of the EU. This emergency deployment could last for between six months and a year. Then in the next stage, a permanent, independent border guard corps would be set up and deployed in sensitive areas, as decided by the European institutions. This idea was not challenged, but neither was any consensus reached. Italy's minster of the interior, Angelino Alfano, encouraged the idea, saying that a European border guard corps is the strategy for the future. French news agency AFP reports him saying that he thought Europe was now ready to make this type of choice. The ministers hoped that the smart border proposals that the Commission is to unveil in the near future would serve this objective of strengthening borders by using new technology and biometrics.
The minsters did not, however, make any real progress on Thursday on the list of safe countries of origin, both for technical reasons and because there will be elections in Turkey on 1 November and a number of delegations were concerned about the security situation there. Likewise for the permanent mechanism to divide up asylum-seekers unveiled on 9 September. Some delegations want to wait for an initial assessment of the emergency relocation measures before discussing the question.
Present in Luxembourg, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Europe office said that these returns measures were a logical and normal response to solidarity and would leave space for people in genuine need. The UNHCR explained that basic processes, like the initial refugee interview, should be respected in the framework of work on the list of safe countries. The UNHCR Europe office chief, Vincent Cochetel, queried the €1 billion in humanitarian aid promised on 23 September for United Nations' agencies, saying that the UNHCR had not yet seen any of the promised money, and neither had the World Food Programme. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)