Discussions between Member States on the concrete modalities of solidarity and responsibility in the field of asylum remain difficult and the respective positions are not fundamentally changing.
This was one of the findings mentioned by a source on Wednesday 25 November, following a new discussion by national ambassadors to the EU on the ‘Pact on Migration and Asylum’. The aim of this discussion was to prepare for the political debate of the Ministers of the Interior scheduled for 14 December (instead of the original 4 December) and which will probably be held by videoconference.
To this end, the German EU Council Presidency is working on a progress report on the broad outlines of the Pact which it would like to submit for adoption, in the absence of a general political agreement on these outlines, which is not guaranteed.
The debate in Coreper (Committee of Permanent Representatives) focused this time on the solidarity and responsibility angles. In its Pact, the Commission called on frontline States to apply stricter and faster procedures for identifying who arrives at the external borders and, in return, on other Member States to provide more assistance to these countries in the event of an influx of migrants.
The ambassadors’ discussion showed, according to this source, that three groups of countries are emerging:
- front-line countries, which are concerned that new demands for accountability will prove onerous to put in place. They want a guarantee that other countries will come to their aid in the event of a crisis and that the responses will be appropriate to the situation they face.
- a second group, which is concerned in particular with the secondary movements of migrants and asylum seekers: these countries support stricter measures on arrival at the external borders and are prepared, in exchange, to invest much more in solidarity (relocation, returns).
- a third group of so-called Visegrád countries does not like the idea of solidarity only demonstrated through relocation or support for returns in cases of crisis or help in setting up centres in the context of migratory pressures. These countries would rather seek to develop alternative forms of solidarity while agreeing with the principle of compulsory solidarity, but do not want compulsory relocation, and fear that this form of aid will be imposed on them in one way or another.
These issues are therefore more complex than those relating to the external dimension of migration policy, on which Member States are more in agreement, as previous exchanges have shown.
Discussions will continue at Coreper next week.
Memorandum from “front-line” countries. The Prime Ministers of Greece, Malta, Italy and Spain also issued a joint letter on 25 November to Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and European Council President Charles Michel calling for compulsory relocation to be the EU’s main solidarity response.
They also stress that the new responsibilities required of them (preliminary security checks, speeding up of time frames for border procedures) must not lead to the creation of “large closed centres” which they refuse to house. In particular, they have doubts about the new accelerated border procedures, which, by becoming compulsory for almost the majority of people arriving, will inevitably put pressure on the Member States. It is up to the latter to decide whether or not a border procedure should be applied and whether it is feasible in this case, according to the text which was made public by Greek and Spanish media. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)