The Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, confirmed to Politico on Friday 19 June that the Pact on Asylum and Migration would not be presented before the EU27 have given concrete expression to their agreement on the recovery plan, which at this stage postpones the Pact until mid/end of July.
“We are in the process of finalising the proposal, but many Member States have asked us to wait until they have reached a preliminary agreement” on the budget, she explained. The Commissioner confirmed what an official had said in the Parliament Committee on Civil Liberties on 15 June, referring to a certain delay. That Pact had already been pushed back because of Covid-19.
According to several sources, most of the work on the Pact has been done, but difficult discussions continue on its most sensitive aspects, such as the issue of compulsory solidarity. The last trade-offs must be offered.
According to these sources, Ms Johansson is personally in favour of compulsory relocation for all Member States, even for a small number of asylum seekers, but the subject remains complicated.
Nor is everything settled on border procedures and screening procedures for arrivals, with the aim being to redirect those who are not eligible for asylum into return procedures more quickly. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)