Members of the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE) gave a lukewarm welcome on Thursday 24 September to the Commission’s new proposals on asylum and migration, presented to them by Vice-President Margarítis Schinás, responsible for promoting the European way of life, and Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson.
Without categorically rejecting at this stage what was tabled on 23 September (see EUROPE 12566/1), they mainly wondered how these new policies would work in practice and some feared the creation of new centres such as the one in Moria in Lesbos because of the new screening procedure for migrants.
A number of MEPs from the EPP and Renew Europe considered the proposals to be a good basis to start work. “We need a new start, to make sure that all member states do their bit”, said Roberta Metsola of Malta, who welcomed the proposals on returns and said the appointment of an EU returns coordinator was “essential”. “But it has to work in practice”, she added, considering the project “still a bit vague”.
The Dutch MEP Sophie in ‘t Veld (Renew Europe) considered that this Pact was obviously “not perfect”, but that it had the merit of presenting an alternative “to the current situation”, which cannot be maintained.
But she criticised the vagueness of the announcements on legal migration, including labour migration. The Commission only announced on Wednesday tailor-made partnerships with third countries and intends to present a programme to bring in talent (Talent partnership) by the end of 2021, which would not only concern skilled migrants but also those who are a little less skilled.
Another concern of the Dutch MEP is the correct application of the rules by the Member States and “how to ensure” that the new proposals “will not create new Morias”.
She joined Germany’s Birgit Sippel (S&D), who feared that “we are focusing too much on returns”. She also wanted to know whether the relationship with third countries would be “based on blackmail”. She wondered where people will be placed with these new border procedures, saying she feared new camps like Moria springing up.
On the whole, the left-wing groups (S&D, Greens/EFA and GUE/NGL) expressed great fears, with Tineke Strik (Greens/EFA, Netherlands), the current rapporteur on the returns directive, saying she was “worried” about the continuing burden on first port of entry countries from “very heavy procedures”. How can this Pact guarantee that it will not widen “the suffering of the Greek islands”?
The far-right groups such as ID obviously take a completely different view, with the group believing that “departures from third countries” should have been dealt with and not arrivals in the EU. In other words, making sure that nobody can come to the EU.
Budapest, Prague and Warsaw already critical
The group thus joins in with the initial criticisms from Viktor Orbán and his Polish and Czech counterparts, Mateusz Morawiecki and Andrej Babiš, who met Ursula von der Leyen in Brussels on 24 September.
At a joint conference at the Polish Permanent Representation, the Hungarian leader said that the tone of the proposals was “better” than in 2016, but that the theme remained of wanting to “manage migration” when, according to him, it was necessary to “stop migrants”.
“The basic approach is still the same (...) there has been no breakthrough”, he is quoted by AFP as saying.
Mateusz Morawiecki, for his part, said, “We stand by our position and insist on the most rigorous and effective border control possible”, referring to the group known as the Visegrád group, which also includes Slovakia.
“At first glance, it seems that the European Commission has still not understood that, in order to stop illegal migration, we have to stop illegal migrants when they arrive on European soil”, said Andrej Babiš earlier, rejecting the principle of having to finance the return of migrants that these countries refuse to accept.
First test on 8 October
A first test will take place on 8 October, with a first exchange of views at the informal meeting of home affairs ministers. In any case, German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer described the proposal as a “good basis for work”.
“Our aim is to use the remaining months of our EU Council Presidency to reach political agreement on the principles of EU migration and asylum policy”.
The events in Moria have shown that “a genuine new start is urgently needed”, the minister said in a statement.
Schengen, the new strategy in 2021
On Wednesday 23 September, the Commission put 12 documents on the table, including a communication and 5 regulations, respectively: on the new border screening, on Eurodac, on a common procedure for international protection, on asylum management and migration and on the status of citizens of third countries who are long-term residents (the new Dublin criteria are in this regulation) and a regulation to resolve situations of crisis or force majeure.
It also adopted a recommendation not to criminalise the work of NGOs and published a roadmap detailing all future initiatives.
On Schengen, there was at one point a question of integrating new avenues into the Pact to respond to situations of travel restrictions such as those generated by Covid-19, but the subject was postponed in the end. This strategy will be presented in the first quarter of 2021.
The Commission also notes the timetable required for the adoption of texts already presented and concluded under the former asylum package, such as the text on reception conditions for asylum seekers.
Link to the roadmap: https://bit.ly/3kH4l92 (Original version on French by Solenn Paulic)