The rapporteurs on the 'resettlement' and 'hosting conditions for persons seeking international protection' dossiers, both legislative texts of the 'Asylum' package of 2016, took stock of progress in negotiations with the Council of the EU, at the committee on civil liberties (LIBE) of the European Parliament on Monday 19 February.
On the European resettlement framework, rapporteur Malin Björk (GUE/NGL, Sweden) reported fundamental differences of opinion between Parliament and the Council. She said that the uncertainty on certain points must be lifted, particularly the reasons to exclude certain individuals from the European resettlement programme.
The real work has not yet properly begun, as the two trialogue negotiation sessions in December 2017 and January of this year basically served to present the respective positions, a source told EUROPE last week.
A further trialogue session is scheduled for 27 February. A number of points could be potential sources of conflict between Parliament and the Council, particularly concerning the scope of application of the future regulation and the number of persons to be hosted. Certain countries (such as Germany) hope to extend the scope of application beyond just resettlement, by including admission admissions on humanitarian grounds as well.
Parliament has concerns about this extension of the scope of application, which could lead to 'swelling' the hosting figures in the EU of individuals who would not enjoy the same rights as the people strictly set out in the resettlement framework.
For instance, the right to family reunification for persons admitted on humanitarian grounds is more limited in Germany than for refugees who have been 'resettled' in the EU, a Commission note on the subject explains. The difference in status also concerns the duration of residence in the host country, as individuals benefiting from humanitarian readmission can be returned to the countries of origin after two years and generally come under a programme that is more limited in time. The types of accommodation available to 'resettled' refugees or 'refugees admitted on humanitarian ground' may also vary.
At this stage, the Council also hoped to remain as unspecific as possible on the detailed commitments and rejected the Parliament's calls to respond favourably to the worldwide global targets of the UNHCR. The LIBE committee called on the member states in October (see EUROPE 11882) to host 240,000 refugees, or 20% of the global needs estimated by UNHCR.
However, as for the so-called Dublin asylum system, certain countries are pushing not to resettle any refugees on their territory and to make the mechanism as 'voluntary' as possible.
Hosting conditions. The hosting conditions dossier aims to restrict secondary movements within the EU of persons seeking international protection or asylum (see EUROPE 11774).
Rapporteur Sophie in't Veld (ALDE, Netherlands) stressed the two different philosophies underlying the respective positions of the institutions on this file. She explained that Parliament is following a logic of rights and incentives, while the Council seems to prefer sanctions and restrictions to rights, particularly concerning the freedom of movement.
A further trialogue session will be held on Wednesday 21 February and will tackle matters related to education, employment, general rules on accommodation and healthcare, the rapporteur explained, adding that it would be difficult for the two sides to bring their points of view closer together. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)