At the end of the first working session of the European Council on Thursday 19 October, European Council President Donald Tusk announced that the European leaders had agreed to strengthen their aid to Italy in its management of the central Mediterranean route. He also announced that the European leaders had agreed to strengthen their actions in Libya and the neighbouring countries in order to close this route.
The leaders furthermore committed to feeding the trust fund for Arica more. Member states are currently only committed up to €175 million, although at the beginning the European Commission had counted on an investment of €1.8 billion, European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker stated.
Dublin. On the reform of the asylum system, European Parliament President Antonio Tajani asked the European leaders to act responsibly, now the civil liberties committee (LIBE) has decided on its negotiating position (see other article). The European leaders set themselves the goal of reaching a consensus on this reform in the first half of 2018. They will have an exploratory debate on this in December.
"For as long as I'm here, I'll be the guardian of unity" among the member states, Tusk promised, mentioning the Leaders' Agenda for 2017-1018 (see EUROPE 11886). The Visegrad countries (Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia) felt ill-treated in 2015 during the qualified majority vote on the decisions for the obligatory relocation in the EU of asylum seekers from Greece and Italy. The European Council's objective is therefore to avoid this stumbling block.
Over dinner, the European leaders were expected to discuss their relations with Turkey again and to at least recognise the effectiveness of the EU-Turkey agreement signed in March 2016, which has enabled a significant reduction in migrant flows in the Aegean Sea towards Greece. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic with editorial team)