On Wednesday 7 November, the member state ambassadors to the EU (Coreper) are to make a new update on the state of progress in European migration policy and notably the asylum package.
They will also provide the follow up of the October European summit, which confirmed the priority of strengthening the European Union's external borders and cooperation with third countries such as Egypt (see EUROPE 12120).
On reform of the European asylum system, the European leaders even sent a new negative signal to the Austrian Presidency of the Council by expressing doubt about the Austrian concept of 'obligatory solidarity' – which the Austrian Presidency wanted to explore in order to break the deadlock in reform of the so-called Dublin regulation.
It seems very unlikely that the EU28 will approve the asylum package texts in December. These are considered to be more advanced, like the directive on reception conditions for asylum seekers.
The inter-institutional negotiations furthermore decided on three texts that the European Parliament considers were finalised in June, but that the EU Council has not formally approved. These are the directive on reception conditions, the resettlement regulation and the qualifications regulation (see EUROPE 12109).
On the regulation dealing with the procedures for handling asylum requests, work continued in October, notably on the procedures taking place at the borders or in the transit zones. According to a note of 15 October seen by EUROPE, these procedures should not last longer than 12 weeks, according to a new amendment, compared with eight previously. After this period, the asylum seekers should be able to enter European territory.
The member states that want to assess requests made at the border close to or in these transit zones will have to define the places where these assessments are made in their national law. The directive on reception conditions, which sets out the rights that can be claimed by asylum seekers, will also have to be applied to these procedures at the borders.
In addition, the Austrian note sets out the reservations and specific requests of some member states. France, Poland and Slovakia want this text dealing with the procedures to be a directive and not a regulation. France and Spain also want a procedure at borders that does not exceed four weeks, or 12 weeks in cases of disproportionate migration pressure. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)