German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer was quite openly optimistic about the fate of the ‘Asylum and Migration Package’ and its provisions for sea rescue after a first informal discussion with his EU counterparts on 7 July, saying he had “the impression that progress can be made in the understanding between the Member States”.
The Ministers and representatives of Ministers of the Interior had on the agenda of their videoconference the problem of sea rescues, to date mainly carried out by NGOs, and that of the disembarkation of those rescued. An almost daily problem.
Without giving figures or citing specific decisions justifying this satisfaction, the Minister indicated that “all the Member States, even those in the Visegrád Group [Poland, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia] agreed that a common solution” should take shape, with countries participating in the reception (a dozen are currently doing so) and others that will provide “other forms of solidarity”.
What convinced the Minister that the atmosphere might be more conducive to an agreement on the future Pact than in 2016 with the asylum package? The fact that the Visegrád countries, precisely, supported the principle of a common solution on these rescues at sea, was “things I had never heard before”.
The future ‘Pact on Asylum and Migration’ – which the Commission “hopes to present in September”, when a preliminary agreement on the recovery plan and the budget has been reached, said Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson – should indeed present a mechanism on rescue at sea which, according to the thinking of recent weeks, could have a possibly compulsory relocation component. Some sources had raised the possible idea of guidelines for NGOs as well, aimed at not criminalising their activities.
The work is being finalised, Ms Johansson said, acknowledging that there are still knots in the Pact, such as the issue of solidarity and responsibility and the issue of burden sharing. On this subject, she had to carry out double consultations of Ministers, she explained.
This Pact, in any case, will be presented in a single communication and associated legislative proposals, she said on 7 July.
The Ministers’ discussion on Tuesday was in any case an opportunity to recall the importance of good cooperation with third and transit countries in order to limit arrivals in Europe. A conference on the subject of smugglers will be organised on 13 July by Italy and North African countries.
However, Mr Seehofer said that the 2018 idea of establishing landing centres in North African countries was no longer relevant, but modalities for cooperation with these countries could be found.
In any case, he hoped that a “great leap forward” could be made under the German Presidency on the future ‘Pact on Asylum and Migration’, which, in his opinion, will succeed thanks to a few essential elements: – the distribution of asylum seekers between countries, but in smaller numbers; – better procedures at the external borders to better identify who arrives in the EU; – faster returns of people who cannot obtain protection; – new legal channels for migration.
The Commissioner concurred, recalling that although the EU cannot take in all the world’s refugees, it nevertheless has a moral responsibility and that legal migration will be as much a means of avoiding deaths at sea as it is of responding to ageing societies.
The other topic of the day was the European Police Partnership and cooperation between the police forces of the Member States. In this context, the Commissioner recalled that she would present a new mandate for Europol to enable it to cooperate better with non-Member States and a new European Security Strategy. A plan to counter online child pornography is also being prepared. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)