During an informal meeting in Sofia on Thursday 25 January, the European interior ministers tried to bring their viewpoints on the European asylum system closer together and to bring progress to the most controversial issue – the Dublin Regulation that organises the responsibility of the member states on this matter.
While they committed to bringing this reform to an end by the summer, as the European leaders had asked in December (see EUROPE 11926 and 11927), the ministers did not record any concrete progress on the content – their positions remaining overall unchanged on the obligatory nature of the relocation of asylum seekers in cases of emergency.
The ministers "approved our approach", Bulgaria's Interior Minister Valentin Radev stated at the end of the meeting – in other words, a step-by-step approach with the objective of June as the target.
The discussion remained very general without entering into detail, a source stated, who did not think the most sensitive point of the negotiation had changed.
For European Commissioner for Migration Dimitris Avramopoulos, the meeting was more "constructive" and "fruitful" than he had imagined. He felt assured about the fact that the idea of sharing asylum seekers between the member states in cases of major crisis will not be abandoned.
The Bulgarian Presidency of the EU Council indeed seems to be holding to this principle of solidarity which needs to bring all member states together. However, according to one source, what counts is the "overall picture" and in particular the issue of strengthening the EU's external borders. This element of the reform on the discussion table could contribute to convincing the recalcitrant countries to relax their position.
Germany's Interior Minister Thomas de Maizière sowed confusion somewhat. Not wanting to lose from view the objective of the 'solidarity' plank of the Dublin reform, he thought an agreement would be "difficult" and that it would be appropriate to move forwards on other elements of the reform where progress can be made. In his view, the positions of the countries opposed to relocation (the Visegrad countries) have not changed "substantially".
"I don't have the feeling that this section (Ed: obligatory relocation) will be postponed to the very end", another source stated, contesting this interpretation. Postponing the discussion on the asylum seekers 'quotas' section would, in any event, be up to a decision of the heads of state and government in the end.
Austria comes closer to the Visegrad countries
In Sofia, Slovakia's Interior Minister Robert Kalinak questioned the efficiency of the model set up with Austria – the two countries having formed a bilateral agreement at the height of the crisis in 2015 so that Slovakia might temporarily host asylum seekers for whom Vienna should ensure responsibility.
Slovakia, moreover, benefits from a new ally with the new Austrian interior minister, Herbert Kickl, a member of the extreme right FPÖ party. He is opposed to the relocation measures imposed on the member states and without prior agreement between the parties concerned.
In Sofia, Avramopoulos at this stage expelled any idea of retaliation measures for countries that would not want to accept a reform of the Dublin Regulation, including obligatory relocation. "We don't intend to do anything at the moment, like cutting (European) funds", the commissioner stated, underlining that the objective remains having all countries aboard this reform. "We are not there to dictate or to bring panic", he added.
Earlier in the morning, Volker Türk, a member of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), had called on the ministers not to give up the mechanism of sharing asylum seekers, which represents a real solidarity effort towards the so-called countries of first entry, like Greece and Italy, which suffer stronger pressure than the others. He had also called on the ministers to make new promises of resettlement in the EU for refugees currently sheltering in third countries, saying he was pleased with the 40,000 places promised that day, and adding that millions of people in the world still need protection. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)