Brussels, 07/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - Clear agreement, unity and cohesion in the “engine of Europe” in the face of current crises, particularly the migration crisis: that was the main message French President François Hollande and German Chancellor Angela Merkel wanted to deliver on Thursday 7 April, following the joint Council of Ministers held in the city of Metz.
We are moving in the same direction, they each insisted, speaking about migration, tackling terrorism, foreign, security and defence policy, and climate at their joint press conference. The aim, they said, is to ensure that, for the implementation of decisions already taken and those to come, the Paris-Berlin partnership remains the major force in formulating European policy, and this for the good of the European Union.
With occasional differences having been glimpsed over how to manage the migration crisis, it was on this issue that Hollande and Merkel were most eagerly awaited. “Strengthen” was the watchword, used more than 50 times in the joint work programme they adopted. Europe has to be strengthened as it has to prepare for a future in which migration is a global challenge by strengthening Schengen and the protection of its external borders and by adopting a common European asylum system, the programme says.
When applied to the migration crisis, this approach would provide greater support for Greece, in particular, with 600 French and German officials being sent, including for Frontex, a “substantial increase” in relocations of asylum seekers and increased humanitarian support. For the implementation of the EU-Turkey agreement, the two leaders pledge to take their “share of the resettlement of Syrian refugees” from Turkey. At the same time, the return policy has to be strengthened, with “balanced repatriation packages” determined with the countries of origin and transit. For the Schengen area, the “fundamentals” have to be retained, they argued, promising “this year” to bring forward new joint proposals, for example, on revision of the Dublin regulation.
The two leaders also intend to contribute to realising the European Commission objective of having European border guards and coast guards in place by summer 2016, one of their priorities being to strengthen the EU's external borders. Their national legal frameworks will be swiftly amended and they will, “in the next few weeks”, set out their contributions in terms of human and material resources to be ready “by June at the latest”.
Libya was also spoken about in this context, the fear being that the situation in the country descend deeper into “chaos”, in the term used by Hollande, than it already finds itself. There is a fear, too, of a mass influx of migrants from Libya to Malta or Italy, Hollande stated. The two leaders spoke principally about possible development of the EU naval operations (EUNAVFOR Med Sophia) which seeks to combat traffickers in the Mediterranean. (Original version in French by Jan Kordys with Solenn Paulic)