While the German Presidency of the EU Council submitted a progress report on the ‘Pact on Migration and Asylum’ in mid-December which already identified the dividing lines between Member States, in particular on the aspects of solidarity and responsibility (see EUROPE 12622/3), Portugal will have the difficult task of reaching a first political agreement on the general architecture of this migration and asylum reform and will even try to get some of its instruments adopted, such as the new procedure for preliminary controls at the EU's external borders.
This regulation, which has already been contested by the frontline countries, could already be on the agenda of the EU Home Affairs Council of 11 and 12 March with an attempt at a general approach, according to the provisional programme of the Portuguese Presidency.
As a reminder, this regulation imposes new safety and health checks over a period of five days for all persons (except vulnerable persons) crossing EU borders irregularly. This person would then be redirected to a normal asylum procedure or the border procedure.
In June, the second formal EU Home Affairs Council could have on its agenda a possible agreement on the new Eurodac regulation, which the Commission also amended in its Pact of 23 September.
“The implementation of the Valletta Declaration and its Action Plan, as well as the accompanying regional dialogues, the Rabat and Khartoum processes and the follow-up to the international conventions on migration and refugees will be among the objectives of the Presidency”, the work programme states.
The Presidency will hold a ministerial conference in Lisbon on migratory flows and will have to ensure the implementation of the new mandate of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) and its new personnel. The permanent body of the agency, which is expected to grow to a staff of 10,000 by 2027, is due to be launched in January in Lisbon.
For the other ‘Home Affairs’ dossiers, the provisional programme of the Portuguese Presidency also envisages an agreement on the reform of Europol, presented in December (see EUROPE 12619/14), at the EU Council meeting on 7 and 8 June.
Also in June, a debate on legal migration and another on the future of Schengen (on the basis of the recast proposals expected in early 2021) could take place. “We will also pay attention to the interoperability of information systems and the implementation of the Entry-Exit System (EES) and the European Travel Information and Authorisation System (ETIAS)”, says the Presidency. However, these systems will not be ready until 2023.
Schengen enlargement
The Presidency’s work programme foresees, at this stage, a decision to adopt the extension of the Schengen free movement area to Croatia at the EU Home Affairs Council in June. The document says nothing, however, about Bulgaria and Romania.
Links to the priorities of the Portuguese Presidency: https://bit.ly/3pSyh4N (in French) and https://bit.ly/38ZKA8E (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)