The reform of the Dublin Regulation, which sets out the framework for Member States' responsibilities for processing asylum applications, is still not agreed between the Twenty-eight, but the Austrian Presidency of the Council of the EU considers that it has nevertheless made progress under its mandate, particularly with regard to the various solidarity channels in the field of asylum. This observation was made on Thursday 6 December by the Austrian Minister of the Interior, Herbert Kickl, at the end of a meeting of Interior Ministers which, in his opinion, made it possible to take a few more steps.
The Austrian Presidency has "spared no effort to break the deadlock", the Minister assured the Minister, while several delegations criticised a lack of willingness to reach an agreement on this issue. Austria believes that it has imposed a change of "paradigm" in this area by applying the concept of solidarity. It had tried for a while to work on the concept of mandatory solidarity, then continued on a voluntary approach combining internal or external solidarity measures, for example, by protecting external borders. For the Minister, a technical agreement on this Dublin reform would even be relatively close.
Ministers discussed this subject again at a lunch devoted to migration issues and did not in any case send any particular signal on a possible agreement on the texts of the asylum package which are more or less ready (qualifications, resettlement, reception conditions), whereas Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos had asked them to do so on Tuesday 4 December. The European official reiterated this wish, which nevertheless seems difficult to achieve at this stage.
In the meantime, France and Germany have proposed new concrete compromise ideas to successfully revise this Dublin Regulation, which is essential to the asylum package, says Paris. During this meeting, the two countries circulated their ideas, which include the fact that relocation should be the first form of solidarity. However, Member States with good reasons could derogate from it and put in place alternative, justified and temporary measures. However, a group of countries should still be required to mandatorily relocate asylum seekers. A country's responsibility for asylum seekers would be 8 years, compared to the 10 years Berlin wanted.
But to bring Italy on board, a guarantee would be given by introducing automatic and compulsory relocation to other Member States for people rescued at sea and landed in its ports. It will now be up to the Romanian Presidency to take forward these new attempts to reach agreement on this regulation, proposed in May 2016, and possibly to put these efforts in writing in compromise proposals and not only in concept papers, as some have criticised the Austrian Presidency. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)