MEPs have once again urged all Member States to complete the reform of the European asylum system. Their request was followed by a call from the European Commission, and from the Commissioner for Migration, Dimitris Avramopoulos, in particular, urging them to “do their jobs" in the three months left before the European elections.
During a debate on reform of the European asylum system, which has been deadlocked since 2016, MEPs and the Commission invited the Council to adopt a position on the Dublin Regulation, which defines the responsibilities for processing asylum applications and on which there has not been consensus since May 2016.
The European Parliament rapporteur, Cecilia Wiktsröm (ALDE, Sweden), highlighted the fact that the Parliament had reached a position in October 2017. "We managed to get five groups together, so why can’t you? ", she asked the EU Council.
The European Commissioner reiterated his call for a temporary mechanism to be put in place before the elections to deal with the issue of migrant landings until the Dublin Regulation becomes operational again. The Romanian Presidency of the Council, through the Secretary of State for European Affairs, Melania-Gabriela Ciot, reiterated during the debate that no consensus had been possible on the subject of Dublin and that it was "still impossible at the moment" to arrive at a consensus.
The Romanian representative was also booed at times during her presentation on the EU's progress on migration and improvements in Libya - as a result, for example, of rescues of migrants by the Libyan coast guard - and on progress with some texts in the asylum package. MEPs, including Philippe Lamberts (Greens/EFA, Belgium), blamed “fortress" Europe, "an insult to the values" of the EU. "What would we say if 2,000 South American migrants died trying to cross the Trump Wall? There would be an outcry. Last year, however, more than 2,000 migrants died in the Mediterranean", commented Dutch MEP Sophie in't Veld (ALDE). (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)