Luxembourg, 21/04/2016 (Agence Europe) - The European Commission has no intention of postponing presentation, scheduled for before the summer, of its proposal on reform of the Dublin system (asylum policy), said Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos in an initial discussion with EU home affairs ministers on the options presented on 6 April (see EUROPE 11526).
The Commission plans to bring forward its proposal at the start of May, a timetable which would seem to have been confirmed by the commissioner on Thursday. There is “general agreement that the current system is not working and that the status quo is not an option” said Avramopoulos and Dutch Minister of Migration Klaas Dijkhoff. Dijkhoff said that what is needed is “a system that can handle sudden influxes” of migrants, while reducing migratory flows towards the EU.
The discussion by ministers did not, however, bring clear agreement on the preferred option: the basic reform with a corrective mechanism or more radical reform with its system of quotas of asylum seekers for each member state. This second option, several sources have indicated, would seem to have been rejected for the moment.
Discussion centred on three main preoccupations: the reform timetable, the content of the reform and “political reality”, said Dijkhoff. The Commission is trying to devise a fair system that will reduce the pressure that some member states face and not a “fortress Europe” system, stressed Avramopoulos. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)