Brussels, 24/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - Tensions will be running high at the meeting of EU home affairs ministers on Thursday 25 February over the Western Balkans route and cooperation with Turkey to stem the flow of migrants to the EU. The results of this cooperation are still far from acceptable to the EU.
The JHA Council will be preceded by an informal breakfast of the countries principally affected by the situation in the Balkans: Austria, Croatia, Germany, Slovenia and Greece and non-EU countries Serbia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM).
Over lunch, the member states will discuss the EU-Turkey action plan (see EUROPE 11440). Initially, the Turkish home affairs minister was to join the EU ministers but he has indicated that he will be “unavailable”, according to a source on Wednesday 24 February and will be represented by the deputy home affairs minister. United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees Antonio Guterres will also attend the ministers' discussions on Turkey. European Council President Donald Tusk confirmed on Wednesday that the next EU-Turkey summit will be held on Monday 7 March. This meeting will be devoted essentially to discussion of the EU-Turkey action plan and reducing the flow of migrants to Greece.
The formal meeting will also provide an opportunity to discuss a number of specific legislative issues, such as the proposal made by the European Commission in December for a European Border and Coast Guard Agency (see EUROPE 11454). Ministers will hold a political debate on this initiative which caused controversy over its conferring the “right of intervention” at certain points of the external borders on this new Frontex agency (which would see its mandate extended and means increased). Ministers will be updated on work on the first chapters of this draft regulation. The Dutch Presidency of the Council is aiming to conclude discussions by June, submitting a draft compromise to ministers in April and immediately opening discussions with the European Parliament. Parliament has already named Artis Pabriks (EPP, Latvia) as its rapporteur.
The Dutch Presidency has made good progress on the proposal, a diplomatic source has revealed, though a number of issues remain difficult, the article on the right of intervention being a case in point. All the member states believe that, there should be a right of intervention in the most extreme cases but none accepts that intervention should be possible without the agreement of the state concerned, the source said. Further discussion will be needed, too, on the responsibility for returns granted to the new strengthened Frontex agency.
Decision expected on revision of Schengen borders code. On Thursday, ministers will be called upon to reach a political agreement in principle (general approach) on the proposal for the revision of the Schengen borders code (see EUROPE 11454). This proposal, which was also presented in December, seeks to allow systematic checks on European nationals using police files, such as the SIS, or Interpol databases as they cross the external borders of the Schengen area. The proposal was brought forward in the wake of the Paris terrorist attacks.
The initial demands have been relaxed during discussions. The proposal put to ministers states that, if these systematic checks on all travellers caused overly long queues in airports or other maritime or land crossing points, the border police would be authorised to carry out targeted checks, as they currently do, on the basis of risk criteria, says a Council note. A number of points linger and will have to be settled, including the issues related to implementation of this measure and to possible “exceptions” for airports, said the above-quoted diplomatic source. According to another source, the issue here is about transition periods for airports, likely to be between six and twelve months, “to be decided by the ministers”.
Chaotic situation on Western Balkans route. Along with the definite legislative matters, ministers will also have the opportunity to discuss the high tensions resulting from the migration situation in the Balkan countries and the unilateral decisions being taken by member states, such as Austria (see EUROPE 11496).
Returning to the conclusions of the European summit of 18 and 19 February on migration (see EUROPE 11493), ministers will again discuss progress made on the decisions taken, particularly on the “hotspots” where migrants are to be identified and registered and on the process to relocate migrants within the EU. Ministers will try to make progress towards a more European solution, after the Commission and the Dutch Presidency attempted to make member states see sense and called on them to make sure that a humanitarian crisis is not allowed to develop in Greece and not to push migrants through to neighbouring counties so that they can claim asylum there (a “wave through approach” (see EUROPE 11497). No definite decision on these burning issues is expected, however.
The Austrian minister is expected to inform his colleagues on the mini-summit on the Balkans held in Vienna on Wednesday 24 February and bringing together the home affairs and foreign ministers of the countries along the Balkans route followed by so many migrants (Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Croatia, Kosovo, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Slovenia - Greece was not invited despite its protestations). According to a statement published by the Austrian government, these countries believe that the crisis requires a full, coordinated response that brings lasting results. They believe that refugees should be provided with protection closer to their country of origin and argue that it is impossible to process “an unlimited number of asylum requests”. Austria, indeed, has set a daily limit. The participating countries make clear, too, that migrants should not be able to choose the country in which they want to seek asylum.
Discussions on the migration situation have been complicated by other announcements coming from all directions, such as from the Hungarian government, that it wants to consult the people by referendum on relocation decisions.
Schengen. It is against this very difficult backdrop that ministers will also take stock of the situation in Greece vis-à-vis the possible triggering of Article 26 of the Schengen borders code. On 12 February, 50 recommendations were put to Athens for implementation so as to avoid the triggering of the Article, which would extend for a maximum of two years the controls at internal borders that are already being carried out by seven member states. In response, Greece will have to submit an action plan by 12 March, said a diplomatic source, and try to avoid the hammer that is Article 26 falling between now and 12 May. Ministers may also acknowledge in this debate that Greece has made definite efforts over the last few weeks, for example, by putting “hotspots” into operation and increasing the numbers of fingerprints taken. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)