“We will abolish the Dublin Regulation and we will replace it with a new European migration governance system (and) it will have common structures on asylum and return and it will have a new strong solidarity mechanism”, announced the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in her State of the European Union address on Wednesday 16 September. She thus confirms a draft that has been in preparation at the Commission since the spring. The so-called Dublin Regulation defines the responsibilities of Member States for processing asylum applications.
The institution, which will unveil its ‘Pact on Asylum and Migration’ on 23 September, had in fact planned as early as February to withdraw the outstanding text on ‘Dublin III’, presented in 2016, and to replace it with a more comprehensive framework, possibly a regulation, on migration management (see EUROPE 12485/6, EUROPE 12524/2).
The 2015 crisis has left “deep scars”, Mrs von der Leyen said Wednesday, but “if we are all prepared to compromise, we can find a solution”. She said it was possible to “overcome the differences”, as was the case in July with the Recovery Plan.
A week after the fire at the Moria migrant camp in Greece, the Commission President confirmed that the Commission is working with the Greek authorities “on a pilot project to build a new camp” which will aim to improve reception conditions, asylum and return procedures. A policy that will involve the commitment of “all Member States”.
The President further stressed that the future Pact would follow a “human approach”. “Saving lives at sea is not optional, you don't choose to do it or not”, she told MEPs.
It will also distinguish “between those who can and those who cannot stay”, will insist on new external partnerships and legal migration channels and will also deal with integration into European societies.
See the State of the Union speech: https://bit.ly/3iBviKK (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)