The leaders of the Twenty-Eight Member States will have, in the morning on Thursday 18 October, a short a priori discussion on migration, during which the Austrian Chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, will present an overview on the reform of the European asylum system, which still seems blocked.
According to one diplomat, the question of whether to give a final green light to the texts of the ‘Asylum’ package, which are already almost ripe, could also resurface during the discussion, as Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos wrote a letter to the European Home Affairs Ministers last week to this effect.
As a reminder, at the end of June under the Bulgarian Presidency, the Member States were on the verge of validating negotiations with the European Parliament on the texts regarding resettlement, reception conditions for asylum seekers or again on the text on qualifications, but they preferred to opt for the package approach, i.e. for a green light that also incorporates the ‘Eurodac' regulation, the ‘Procedures’ regulation, the regulation on the new European Asylum Agency and, of course, the very complex reform of the Dublin regulation. No breakthroughs are therefore expected at the summit, but the Twenty-Eight will simply state that work must progress in order to conclude as soon as possible, according to a draft of conclusions dated 15 October.
"The idea is still to implement the June decisions [and in particular cooperation with transit/origin countries]", summarised a diplomat, the June European Council developed concepts of ‘controlled centres’ (detention centres in the EU and rapid examination of asylum seekers' profiles) and ‘landing platforms’, two concepts that have made little progress since the summer and which now include the dossier on new cooperation with Egypt.
There is the need “to know if the Italian government continues to use the issue of migration for political purposes", says the diplomat. "We will never have unanimity on this", but Italy must participate in a consensus, even a smaller one among the Member States.
However, one thing is more certain: Europeans should commit themselves to strengthening the Frontex agency and call on the Parliament to commit itself to this new reform (a Frontex regulation had just come into force in 2016), as well as to the ‘Returns’ directive. However, with regard to Frontex, they should make it clear that this strengthening must remain in the context of national responsibilities, in order to appease governments that have a sovereignty problem. The issue of domestic resources is also important for smaller countries. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic with the editorial staff)