Initiated in the summer of 2018, are discussions on the establishment of a temporary disembarkation mechanism for migrants in European ports about to lead to a real structured system?
Meeting in Helsinki on Thursday 18 July, several interior ministers insisted that this should be the case and put a new roadmap on the table, but these discussions will still have to "continue”, said Finnish Interior Minister Maria Ohisalo. Some blockages persist, particularly at disembarkation sites for migrants rescued at sea. A meeting will be held in Paris on Monday 22 July between the EU foreign affairs and interior Ministers to further advance the work. A further meeting will then take place in early September in Malta.
The interior ministers discussed the subject on Wednesday 17 July, in the evening, at a dinner organised by the Presidency, and then on 18 July. Even if it has not yet been possible to definitively define the outlines of this mechanism, which has mobilised, since 2018, around 11 Member States depending on the situation, European Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos also described, on Thursday evening, a positive development "with more member countries willing" to participate. As a reminder, the mechanism should help Italy and Malta to cope with new ships and the reception of migrants by relying on relocation to other countries.
It is on the basis of a Franco-German initiative that some slight progress was observed. This initiative, which does not appear to be new, consists in committing voluntary countries to receive people rescued on the high seas by private vessels (NGOs) under a relocation mechanism coordinated by the Commission, at least until October or the end of 2019.
In the morning, five ministers met more specifically on the subject: the Italian, Maltese, French, German and Finnish ministers. Later, at a press conference, Matteo Salvini, the Italian Interior Minister, did not seem against it, but stressed that it was important for Rome that the document exclude the notion of the closest European ports, which implies a particular weight for Italy or Malta.
Target of 15 countries
In any case, these ministers are said to be setting an objective of securing at least “15 countries” around this mechanism, said French Minister Christophe Castaner. At this morning's meeting, the imperative to save lives at sea and avoid situations where people remain stuck for weeks or days waiting for a solution was reiterated, said German Minister Horst Seehofer. But the importance of not encouraging an influx was also clearly underlined, he added. It is therefore also important for NGOs to play the game, the objective of the scheme being not to give the impression that it promotes illegal immigration, Horst Seehofer said.
Since the summer of 2018 and the first blockades imposed by Matteo Salvini on NGO boats, a handful of Member States have agreed to distribute people rescued, but without a clear framework. It was this exercise that the Romanian Presidency then tried to formalise in guidelines.
The goal is now to have an operational system activated as soon as a similar situation reoccurs, a system "limited in time, but also limited in the number of people" it takes care of, the French minister added.
This discussion was accompanied by a more general debate on Thursday on the EU's migration and asylum policies, because, as the Finnish Minister pointed out, this work on temporary disembarkation mechanisms "does not take anything away" from the efforts to reform the European asylum system, efforts that have so far failed to "solve the equation between responsibility and solidarity". In this area, however, the next step will be the statements by Mrs von der Leyen, who has announced a relaunch of the asylum package, without saying, at this stage, whether this will involve withdrawing or maintaining the texts currently present. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)