On Wednesday 3 March, the national ambassadors to the EU began preparing for the virtual meeting of interior ministers on 12 March and the meeting between interior and foreign ministers to be held on 15 March regarding the Asylum and Migration Pact.
On 12 March, ministers will only have one information session on the Pact, with a public session on the state of play and ways in which to move forward.
A more specific point, a priori non-public, will be made during this meeting regarding cooperation with North African countries in terms of migration, as well as security and broader aspects of relations. This is the point that the ambassadors discussed on Wednesday. However, in terms of the rest of the Pact – namely the aspects related to the new asylum procedures or pre-controls at external borders – the work is not yet ready for a political discussion.
The Portuguese Presidency is carrying out the technical work, but has said nothing about objectives regarding the adoption of the five new texts of the Pact. If proposals, such as those on EASO or Eurodac, appear to be able to be adopted more quickly, the logic behind the package on the ‘Asylum’ and ‘Migration’ dossiers in the Council of the EU could further delay movement.
In terms of this external aspect, Ministers will return to the recent European Commission communication on returns (see EUROPE 12655/16) on 12 March, while the ‘Jumbo’ meeting on 15 March also aims to speed up this work on the external dimension of the Pact in order to encourage work on the regulations concerning intra-EU aspects. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)