On 6 November, the German EU Council Presidency will submit general principles on the ‘Pact on Migration and Asylum’ to the Member States’ Ambassadors to the EU in preparation for the ministerial videoconference meeting on 13 November and to move closer to the political agreement it aims to achieve at the Home Affairs Council on 4 December.
The Presidency wants to obtain a political green light on the overall architecture of the Pact and the broad outlines of the reform, such as the principle of compulsory solidarity, before tackling the practical elements and very concrete arrangements for this solidarity, which should prove to be much more delicate.
A political debate is scheduled to take place at the meeting on 13 November, and the Ambassadors will prepare the outlines for it on Friday 6 November.
In this position paper, the Presidency proposes that the EU27 agree on “political elements for understanding the Pact”, with the aim of reaching a compromise, “which takes into account the concerns of all Member States”.
It is based on the “fundamental” principle of identifying who arrives in the EU, with a “distinction, at an early stage, between persons fulfilling or not fulfilling the conditions to lawfully enter the EU and between applicants for international protection in need or evidently not in need of protection”. “Persons not fulfilling the conditions to lawfully enter the EU and not eligible for protection should in principle not be authorised to enter the EU, [or should ] leave the EU again as soon as possible”.
The text lists the priorities as “the external dimension”, with, for example, the strengthening of partnerships with priority countries of origin or transit (North Africa, the Western Balkans, Turkey, sub-Saharan Africa and countries along the ‘Silk Road’).
The EU Council also supports the envisaged pre-entry phase, consisting of compulsory checks (identity, registration, health and safety) and compulsory asylum and return procedures at the borders, the practical details of which will, however, have to be specified.
On solidarity, the Presidency reiterates that “there is broad agreement for having a mechanism of mandatory solidarity in cases of crisis situations as well as in cases of migratory pressure”.
“Since every Member State has to face its own challenges, the mechanism must be able to provide for meaningful, tailor-made measures of solidarity combining flexibility with a guarantee of effectiveness for Member States under pressure”.
Relocation and return assistance are a necessity in times of crisis, but other forms of assistance are also welcome.
The text also addresses returns, the use of visa policy, better compilation and digitisation of asylum and migration data (via Eurodac), but also legal migration, an area where Member States should reiterate their refusal of new legal channels for low and medium-skilled third-country workers, but possibly agree to talk again about other categories of workers.
Link to the note: https://bit.ly/386VOsY (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)