Brussels, 25/02/2016 (Agence Europe) - In Brussels on Thursday 25 February, the Home Affairs Ministers of the EU took stock of the migration situation in the EU, particularly on the Western Balkans route, against a tense backdrop and with no significant breakthroughs providing any hope of coming out of crisis soon. The reason behind this tension is the stances recently taken by several member states, such as Austria, which has decided to regulate crossings of migrants from its territory to Germany and has drawn down fire from Athens by sidelining it from its reflections.
Some of the ministers started the day with an informal breakfast meeting devoted to the situation on the Balkans route, organised by the Dutch Presidency of the Council of the EU, and then the Twenty-Eight as a whole lunched with the Turkish Minister Delegate of the Interior to discuss the implementation of the EU/Turkey action plan.
Ultimately, however, the ministers failed to agree on a common position which might put an end to the current chaos. “We are at stalemate”, said one diplomatic source after the meeting. The possible scenario? After the summits of the heads of state or government on 7 March, if there is no extremely visible reduction of the migratory flows from Turkey to the EU, the member states may decide to close their borders even further and continue on the path of unilateral decisions, this source anticipates.
The European Commissioner for Migration, Dimitris Avramopoulos, himself spent the entire day of 25 February stressing that the member states “have only ten more days” to find a European solution before “the entire system collapses”, he said at the end of this meeting. Despite the fact that the Commissioner stressed several times that the situation in the Western Balkans was highly “critical” and that the region was under the threat of a humanitarian crisis - particularly Greece, which fears that it is going to end up as a retaining “camp” for migrants in Europe, “just like Lebanon”, its representative said upon his arrival in Brussels on Thursday morning - the Twenty-Eight still failed to get close to reaching any solutions.
At the final press conference, the Dutch Minister for Immigration, Klaas Dijkhoff, himself acknowledged that although a European solution was still the preferred option and the objective of the work, it could not be guaranteed that without substantial improvements, the member states would not continue on the road towards national measures. “Everybody is working on European solutions, but we cannot guarantee that this approach, which remains the preferred one, will produce its results”, the Minister said.
Specifically, the breakfast meeting on the Western Balkans route - which brings together Germany, Austria, Greece, Croatia, Slovenia and Serbia and the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia (FYROM) - served to attempt to rebuild discussion channels between the principal players concerned as, the Dutch minister explained, these countries are still committed to getting all countries which may be affected by their consequences on board with their decisions.
However, this breakfast was held the day after a mini-meeting held in Vienna on this same Balkans route, but without Germany or Greece, neither of which appreciated this way of going about things. This mini-summit provided the Austrian government with the opportunity to criticise the German policy on refugees, and also to lend its support to the policy of bringing back controls on the internal borders of the Schengen zone. Greece, which fears isolation and has serious concerns about this unilateral initiative, recalled its ambassador from Austria on Thursday 25 February, officially in order to carry out “ consultations” with him, the Greek foreign minister announced.
Several mindsets at play within the EU
According to a diplomatic source from a large country, there are currently a number of opposing camps within the EU. One of these camps has grown up around Austria and Slovakia, which are sticking to their guns and continue to be amongst the “most pessimistic”, believing that no progress will be made on migration between now and 7 March or even thereafter. These countries have confirmed that this date was “decisive” and the Turkish prime minister's comments on the results of the action plan are highly anticipated. The others are calling for a “European solution”, but this is not fully in place. Greece's efforts to this end have come under close scrutiny and although registration rates for migrants in Greece continue to grow, “we can see that this European solution exists”.
However, whilst having recognised as a bloc that Greece had made considerable progress in the treatment and registration of migrants arriving on its territory, the ministers are also expecting very clear signals from Ankara between now and 7 March and after this summit, “for instance in the form of a photo of a ferry setting off in the other direction from Greece”, this source suggested. There are also figures on the expectations: “20,000 people pass through every week, we want it to be just a couple of hundred (arriving) each week”, this source said. The Commission feels that this drop needs to be between 1,000 and 1,500 people per day. The Turkish deputy home affairs Minister, Sebahattin Öztürk, who was in Brussels on Thursday afternoon, accepted this “principle”, this source said, but “he now needs to show it”.
Commission asks Budapest for explanations
The Commission has asked Hungary for clarifications regarding the planned referendum on the relocation decisions regarding migrants taken in September 2015, Avramopoulos said. The Commission is wondering how a referendum on a decision adopted by qualified majority is possible.
France angry with Belgium
On Thursday, the French Home Affairs Minister, Bernard Cazeneuve, told his Belgian opposite number, Jan Jambon, that he had found the Belgian decision to bring back controls on the Franco-Belgian border on the grounds of the dismantling of the Calais jungle “strange”. The French minister complained that he had not been informed of this decision. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)