Meeting in Rome on Wednesday 18 September, the Italian Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, and the French President, Emmanuel Macron, adopted a common position on migration and the care of migrants and asylum seekers in the EU.
In particular, they agreed to champion an “automatic distribution mechanism” with resulting financial sanctions for countries that would not participate, reports AFP. The situation requires “a common position for all countries to participate in one way or another”, in receiving migrants “or being financially penalized”, explained Mr Macron, quoted by the news agency.
The two men also called for “more effective” management of the return of migrants who are not entitled to asylum, to their countries of origin. Emmanuel Macron reiterated that the EU had not shown sufficient solidarity with Italy. “France is ready to move forward on this point as part of the review of the Dublin agreements”, he said. “The answer to the migration issue is not in withdrawal, but in an effective European cooperation solution”, the French President said.
This idea of automatic redistribution of asylum seekers arriving on European soil, combined with financial sanctions against countries that refuse to take their share, was defended by the European Parliament in its October 2017 report on the reform of the Dublin regulation, but has never been supported by the Member States thus far.
On Monday 23 September in Malta, several EU Interior Ministers, namely the Maltese, French, Italian and German Ministers and the Finnish Presidency of the Council of the EU, will discuss another measure on disembarkation of migrants, this time a temporary one. The aim is to agree on a common document to be forwarded to the JHA Council in October. Details remained to be settled in the last few days, such as the fate of so-called economic migrants (without the need for international protection) or the landing points for those migrants rescued at sea. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)