On Tuesday 19 February, the Greek Minister for Migration, Dimitris Vitsas, asked European governments through the European Parliament Civil Liberties Committee to finally agree on a common European asylum system and to agree the texts of the asylum package – pending since 2016 – "regardless of the degree of negotiation" required of each of them. He urged governments to take action before the European elections and to not remain "hostages of internal policies".
In an exchange of views with MEPs, he also outlined his vision for a temporary mechanism for the disembarkation of migrants rescued at sea. The Commission and Member States had started to look into this issue in order to build a bridge with the difficult reform of the Dublin Regulation, which organises the responsibilities of Member States in processing asylum applications. It is a mechanism that will see the light of day before May 2019, he hopes.
However, the Greek minister also expressed his opposition to the vision of the mechanism put forward by France and Germany that was presented on 7 February in Bucharest at an informal meeting (see EUROPE 12189); this incarnation of the mechanism would be limited to the Central Mediterranean route only. The Minister argued that the mechanism should apply to all migration routes, with Mr. Vitsas noting in passing that Greece had observed more irregular entries into its territory in 2018 than in the previous year, particularly where it shares a land border with Turkey.
Taking stock of the situation of migrants and refugees in Greece, the Minister announced a number of pieces of news, such as the fact that a reception centre on the island of Samos – the "worst in the country" according to him – was soon to close, meaning its migrants would be transferred to the continent. He listed a number of actions to integrate refugees with housing programmes or English language courses. Regarding the processing of asylum applications, he explained that eight new appeal committees had been established, reducing the time required taken to examine applications.
In terms of new asylum applications submitted in 2018, he also reported that they were now being submitted by far fewer Syrians, but instead by more Afghans and even Iranians. On European policies, however, he said he was sorry that Member States were not yet in a position to progress with the asylum package and regretted, with regard to the reform of the Dublin Regulation, that the Bulgarian proposal of June 2018 had not been adopted as a working basis since, despite its shortcomings, it had seemed to provide an acceptable compromise for Greece (see EUROPE 12026).
The Minister asked for true solidarity to be shown by the Member States that would participate in this temporary mechanism, and not just the sending of “knives and forks, as was the case in 2015 with a Member State whose name I shall refrain from mentioning", added the Minister. He also wanted countries to voluntarily take into account the "internal dimension" of solidarity and not just its external dimension, with help to manage the external borders. The Minister was of the opinion that relocation quotas based on national GDP should also apply to countries that subscribe to this temporary scheme. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)