On Tuesday 19 June, European Commissioner for Migration and Home Affairs Dimitris Avramoupoulos hosted the interior ministers of the Western Balkans countries, as well as Austria's Interior Minister Herbert Kickl, in order to review the migration situation on the Western Balkan route and to prepare the Austrian Presidency of the EU Council of Ministers.
During a press conference, Avramopoulos stated that the situation had not yet reached an "alarming" stage, but that a few increases in the arrivals of migrants had indeed been observed on this route, especially in Albania, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia.
It is important to remain "vigilant" and "to avoid the situation becoming worse", Avramopoulos summed up, calling for the cooperation that was launched in 2015 at a specific summit on the Balkans and then confirmed at the Sofia summit on the Western Balkans in May to continue.
This meeting nevertheless took place in a particular climate in the EU, with the member states trying to agree on a solution for the reform of the asylum system and the European response to migration ahead of the European summit on 28 and 29 June.
According to news agency Reuters, which has seen the draft conclusions of this meeting, the EU will reportedly propose setting up platforms (outside the EU) enabling a view of who could obtain protection in the EU, so as to prevent these dangerous trips at sea. The project speaks of a concept of regional "disembarkation" platforms.
This is not the first time that Europeans have considered this idea of centres for pre-identifying asylum candidates in countries outside the EU, particularly in African countries, but the idea has until now focused on individual countries (see EUROPE 11838).
When asked about this subject, Avramoupoulos affirmed that this idea of centres, at least in the Balkans, had not been addressed on Tuesday. While he is ready to discuss it, he questioned the effectiveness of such a measure, wondering if a country had already made known its "willingness to host such camps".
On Thursday 21 June, the Commission will prepare its 'migration' contribution for the summit. Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker was due to meet Germany's Chancellor Angela Merkel and France's President Emmanuel Macron on Tuesday evening, as part of the French-German council. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)