Brussels, 04/11/2015 (Agence Europe) - More than 800,000 people have entered the EU illegally since the start of 2015, according to the Frontex agency. On Tuesday 3 November, European Council President Donald Tusk convened an informal European summit to speed up the EU's response to the migration crisis. This further summit will be held in Valetta on 12 November, alongside the EU-Africa summit (11-12 November) which will also be devoted to immigration (see EUROPE 11423).
Earlier in that week, EU home affairs ministers will attend an extraordinary meeting in Brussels on 9 November, convened at the request of the Luxembourg Presidency of the Council of the EU. They will try to hasten implementation of decisions taken, in particular, decisions adopted in September on relocating 160,000 people and also on “hotspots” in Greece and Italy, on which the relocations depend (see EUROPE 11394 and 11395).
To date, only 116 people have been relocated from Italy (86) and Greece (30 Iraqis and Syrians travelled to Luxembourg on 4 November) to other EU countries. Member states have pledged 2,314 places (of the 160,000 planned), following an announcement by France, the Commission said on Wednesday 4 November. In Tusk's view, the urgency of the situation requires another informal meeting of heads of state and/or government, the third since 23 April and the 5th since the crisis worsened in spring. The letter of invitation to the EU leaders notes that migration is continuing at an unprecedented rate, pointing out that 218,000 refugees crossed the Mediterranean in October. Sweden has asked the EU for a relocation system to be put in place for migrants arriving on its soil, the Home Affairs Council have left a reserve of 54,000 places within the 120,000 asylum seekers who are to be taken in. Sweden expects up to 190,000 refugees this year.
Tusk is concerned about the repercussions for the Schengen area of free movement and about the steps taken by member states at their internal borders, between re-establishing controls and erecting fences, as Austria recently spoke about doing along its border with Slovenia. “As I have warned before, the only way not to dismantle Schengen is to ensure proper management of EU external borders. We must do all we can to keep Schengen intact”, he says in his letter of invitation, arguing that, “if we are to avoid the worst we must speed up our actions”.
The purpose of the informal meeting in Valetta will be, inter alia, to step up cooperation with third countries, including Turkey. The EU is preparing an action plan to stem the flow of migrants, implement relocation decisions, set up hotspots and reinforce reception capacities and provide Frontex and EASO with additional expertise, while the member states are not abiding by their commitments (see EUROPE 11404). There will also be discussion on how effectively to strengthen control of external borders.
The Valetta summit on cooperation with African countries will allow a conditionality framework to be put in place, with the EU ready to increase its financial aid and to open channels for legal migration for students and researchers in return for controlling the flow of migrants to the EU and creating the conditions that would allow people to remain in their own countries. According to a draft EU-Africa summit statement, dating from 26 October, African countries will no longer be asked to set up centres where asylum seekers can be identified prior to their continuing on towards the EU. This was an issue that greatly irritated the Africans.
The Luxembourg Presidency had not yet, by Wednesday, drawn up the agenda of the 9 November ministerial meeting. Ministers' discussions are likely to focus on the urgent need to implement the relocation measures and to make the hotspots fully operational. Consideration will also be given to whether or not to ask the Commission to speed up some of the legislative measures announced, such as, for example, strengthening the mandate of Frontex to give it greater powers on returning irregular migrants to their countries of origin.
The list of safe countries of origin proposed by the Commission in September as a way of speeding up asylum procedures for nationals of the Balkan countries - and perhaps Turkey which may, too, find itself included on the list - will probably also be discussed at the JHA Council in December, a Presidency source suggested. One of the key points of the meeting, however, is likely to be the way Europeans control movement into their territory at the external borders and whether all member states are up to the task.
The Commission said that it was not in a position to be able to bring forward fresh proposals. It will inform the European Council of how far all the instructions from the Council have been implemented. On Wednesday, Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker was due to discuss these timeframes with German and Austrian Chancellors Angela Merkel and Werner Faymann. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)