On Tuesday afternoon 3 July, a large majority of MEPs expressed their disappointment as to the results of the European summit on migration, which ended up with a fragile agreement (see EUROPE 12052).
The first to be unsatisfied is European Parliament President Antonio Tajani himself, who, while he adheres overall to the principle of strengthening the EU's external borders, urged the European Council to approve the reform of the Dublin Regulation "by the end of the year". Tajani stated that "the treaties do not provide for unanimity on this issue" but "for qualified majority", and the European Parliament is ready to launch action against the member states to force the EU Council to act on the basis of the treaties.
For the German leader of the S&D Group, Udo Bullmann, "our actions are treated as victories although the progress is not enough". "Every week lives are lost in the Mediterranean, and it is disgraceful not to be able to settle this issue", he said. Within the S&D Group, there is reflection also, as with Tajani, on making the European Council yield on the Dublin Regulation, including, if there is no other means, "by taking certain files hostage, like that on interoperability", an S&D Group source suggested.
Bullmann was followed by the ECR Group, which deemed that the mainly voluntary responses adopted at the summit were not up to responding to Europeans' demands for precise action. "We know that, in some countries, there will be an unacceptable political situation" with strong "anti-European" sentiment. "The institutions must deal with this", Italian MEP Raffaele Fitto stated for the ECR Group.
Belgian MEP Guy Verhofstadt spoke for the ALDE group and could only approve these words. "For the welcome centres, we say we will examine (the situation). This means we will need time". Pointing out the diverging views between "closed centres, and centres opened for others", Verhofstadt wondered "where the Council's decision can be found".
Ska Keller, the co-leader of the Greens/EFA group, deplored the fact the European Council had "made progress on nothing", between migration or the eurozone. On migration, "you don't talk about the hundreds of lives lost over recent days. In Lampedusa (ed: in 2013), we were said to be distraught", but "this is happening again and we bury our heads in the sand". The European Parliament itself was successful on its compromise on the Dublin Regulation, she said, "although they are the same parties as you". With these "disembarkation platforms in the Sahara, resettlement", about which we talk only as something "voluntary", "we are signing the death sentence for any possibility to request asylum in Europe", she said.
Speaking for the ENF Group, French MEP Nicolas Bay nevertheless expressed his delight about this European Council, which did not end up with a "European response" but established "courageous national decisions", broadly to be credited to the influence of Matteo Salvini. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)