The European Commissioner for Migration, Dimitris Avramopoulos, is convinced that an agreement on the revision of the Dublin Regulation, which sets out the responsibilities of the Member States in relation to asylum applications, remains possible in the coming weeks or months, at least before the European elections.
The European Commissioner expressed his confidence on Tuesday 4 December when presenting the reports on the implementation of the European Agenda on Migration. An assessment that takes place in "an entirely different context” with migration flows returning to lower levels than in 2014, he noted at the outset.
With one week to go before the European Council on 13 and 14 December and two days to go before a Council of Ministers for Home Affairs, the Twenty-Eight would therefore be well advised to find a solution to the Dublin issue, including, if necessary, by approving temporary agreements and arrangements that would then help to find a more sustainable solution.
These measures would be based on the specific actions of the summer, during which some States volunteered to receive people rescued at sea who Italy refused to allow to land on its territory for fear of having to register them.
According to the Commissioner, while it is certain that the discussion on the concept of mandatory relocation has been "exhausted”, the concept of solidarity remains alive and well and it must be possible to ensure a minimum level of support for those Member States most in need.
The Commissioner took the opportunity to call again on the Member States, exactly as he had done in June, to definitively approve the other texts of the Asylum package which have been the subject of partial agreements between European Parliament and Council. This is the case for three dossiers - resettlement, the Reception Conditions Directive and the Qualifications Directive - which had not, however, been validated by the Member States and on which negotiations are currently suspended. A partial agreement had also been reached on the Eurodac Regulation. The Commissioner believes that it will also be possible to reach agreement on the text on asylum procedures by the end of the year and on the future European Asylum Agency.
In any case, he reiterated the interest of the Twenty-Eight to at least make progress on certain texts. “European asylum reform goes through Dublin, but it is not only Dublin, we must be realistic and pragmatic", he said, citing, for example, the provisions of the text on reception conditions, which limit the secondary movement of asylum seekers from country to country.
On the Council side, the Austrian Presidency is in any case only aiming for a progress report on this 'asylum' package and has still not succeeded in bringing the positions on Dublin closer together, despite a "tour of the capitals" of two Austrian emissaries which is due to end in the middle of the week. Vienna hopes and believes that an agreement on Dublin is possible before the European elections, even if the concrete elements on the table seem to indicate the opposite, with views still seeming to be so polarised on modes of solidarity.
In the meantime, the Austrian Presidency does not intend to ask the ministers on 6 December to validate the five more or less ready texts of the package. And next week, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz, given this stage, will have to limit himself to informing his colleagues about the same round of discussions and the latest developments between Member States. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)