During the morning of Thursday 11 January, the members of the European Parliament's civil liberties (LIBE) committee urged the Bulgarian Presidency of the EU Council to do its utmost to bring progress to the reform of the Dublin regulation (which organises the responsibilities of the member states on asylum). The MEPs made their request during the Bulgarian Presidency's presentation of its priorities on internal affairs.
Although the European Parliament decided its position on this issue during a vote on 19 October, the Council has still not managed to set out its position. The heads of state and government have made June the deadline for doing this, on the basis of agreement and not on the basis of a vote by qualified majority.
Dutch MEP Judith Sargentini (Greens/EFA) said it was essential for the Council to be given this mandate so that the whole Asylum package might move forward.
Without giving details on how he intended to go about it, Bulgaria's Interior Minister Valentin Radev promised the issue would be a priority and that it would be swiftly put to the assessment of experts. The issue will also be one of the main subjects of the informal interior ministers' meeting in Sofia at the end of January. "We will do our best to move as far forward as possible", he said, noting, however, that the way will not be easy.
In December, the member states parted on a commitment to achieve this reform of the Dublin system, but to do it by reaching a consensus. Several capitals like Paris and Berlin, as well as the Commission, did not, however, rule out that there could be use of the arrangements in the Treaty that authorise a qualified majority vote, as was the case in 2015 with the relocation decisions.
The member states continue to oppose each other on the forms of solidarity in cases of migration crisis, and they particularly oppose each other on the obligatory nature of asylum seeker relocation.
The Bulgarian Presidency furthermore wants to obtain results in the next six months on citizens' safety in the face of terrorist threats – for example, by bringing maximum progress to work on the interoperability of information systems, and also by finalising the reform of the Schengen Information System where new categories of alert have been created.
Having started its mandate with an internal controversy on anti-corruption measures, the Bulgarian Presidency was not asked about this issue on Thursday morning, but was, by contrast, taken to task by some MEPs for its treatment of under 18-year old Roma as this treatment is perceived as discriminatory. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)