On Thursday 28 January, the interior ministers of the EU Member States held another informal discussion by videoconference on the ‘Pact on Asylum and Migration’, which showed “the willingness of the Member States to move forward”, said Commissioner Ylva Johansson, despite the format of the meeting. Ministers have not had a single physical meeting on this Pact, she noted, and while the differences in positions between Member States on the subject are well known, she conceded that compromises, although necessary, “will not be easy to find”.
At her side, the Portuguese Minister of the Interior, Eduardo Cabrita, indicated that the discussion had focused on three areas: the external dimension and cooperation with non-Member States and transit countries, the control of arrivals at external borders, and the internal mechanisms that must be based on solidarity.
The Commissioner and the Minister also insisted on the external dimension and the need to strengthen returns and readmissions, but also on the fight against smugglers. This will soon be the subject of a ‘Jumbo’ Council with the Ministers of Foreign Affairs, they announced.
During this discussion, the situation of the Frontex agency was also commented on, with “some Member States raising concerns”. For Mrs Johansson, it is fundamental that the EU has a “robust and well-functioning agency“, especially with regard to the right to asylum, and there are “gaps to be filled”, she said. The Commissioner thus recalled that the agency still needs to equip itself with sufficient human resources for fundamental rights, as provided for in its new mandate.
She also said it is normal for Frontex to cease its activities in Hungary (see other news). Hungary, which is returning migrants to Serbia, “is not respecting the law at this stage; I think it will change its policy, but you cannot have a European agency like Frontex helping to prevent people from entering” the EU.
The Portuguese minister, on behalf of the Presidency of the Council of the EU, also considered that the Frontex agency “is essential, but it must act in accordance with the law”.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was in any case alarmed during the day by the increase in refoulements at the EU’s borders. In a statement issued on 28 January, he deplored “the increasing frequency of expulsions and refoulements of refugees and asylum seekers at Europe’s land and sea borders” and called on “States to investigate and put an end to these practices”.
UNHCR has received “a continuous stream of reports of some European states restricting access to asylum, returning people after they have reached territory or territorial waters, and using violence against them at borders”.
Refoulements “are carried out in a violent and apparently systematic way. Boats carrying refugees are being towed back. People are being rounded-up after they land and then pushed back out to sea”. People arriving by land are also being informally detained and forcibly returned to neighbouring countries.
Non-essential travel strongly discouraged
The meeting also focused on Schengen and current travel restrictions. Pleasure trips were again “strongly discouraged”, said the Commissioner, who also noted that the proposals she presented on Monday to tighten current measures (see EUROPE 12645/1), which aim in particular to create a new category of risk areas, were “very well received”. She was delighted that an agreement “could already be reached” between the ambassadors on 29 January.
It was emphasised during the discussion that Member States must coordinate well with each other, the Portuguese minister reported, despite the fact that earlier in the day the Commission had criticised the flight bans decided by Germany from certain countries, including Portugal. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)