The European Commissioner for European Affairs, Ylva Johansson, said on Friday 12 March that she was ready to use the lever of visa policy “as early as this summer” against non-Member States that do not cooperate sufficiently with the European Union on the return and readmission of illegal migrants. And she called on Member States to work “urgently” on a list of specific third countries that could be targeted by these measures, such as more expensive visas to travel to the EU.
The Commissioner was speaking at the end of a videoconference of EU Interior Ministers on the external dimension of the Pact on Migration and Asylum, including cooperation with non-Member States on return and readmission.
While she hoped that the visa lever would be used mainly to push for better cooperation with the EU, Ms Johansson called for a timetable for negotiations with these specific countries. The Commission, in a report published in February, studied 39 countries, but did not disclose which of them were considered ‘good’ or ‘less good’, as this classification remains “confidential”, she said.
However, she considered that the “time for action” had come, as allowed by the revised visa code that came into force in 2020. “If countries do not cooperate, there must be consequences. Not using [the tools of the Visa Code, editor’s note] would send a very strange message”, she noted.
Conversely, the Commissioner said that she was ready to offer more favourable visa measures to non-Member States that cooperate effectively with the EU; the revised Visa Code also allows for positive incentives.
The Commissioner in face stressed that the EU should not only use “the stick” in its relations with third countries, but should work to build broader cooperation, covering a whole range of areas.
This aspect of cooperation and visa policy will be discussed again on Monday 15 March at the joint EU Council meeting between the EU’s Interior and Foreign Affairs Ministers.
Pact: defining ‘flexible’ solidarity
The Portuguese Minister of the Interior, Eduardo Cabrita , also explained how he intends to move forward with the legislative dossiers arising from the Migration and Asylum Pact. “We will eliminate Member States’ doubts in the next 3 months” and “roll up our sleeves”, he promised.
The objective of the Portuguese Presidency of the EU Council, he said earlier in the day, in a brief public discussion among Ministers, is to succeed in defining the terms of the ‘flexible’ solidarity that Member States should show towards countries on the front line of migrant arrivals, including the balance between responsibility and solidarity.
“Those countries that want to use the flexibility offered by the Pact will have to tell us by June” what help they are willing to provide in the event of a migration crisis, whether it be returns, relocation, help with border surveillance or the creation of reception centres, Mr Cabrita said.
The Minister also said in front of the press that the positions of the States were coming closer together on this notion of compulsory solidarity as well as on the sharing of the burden in the controls at the EU’s external borders.
Simulations sent to Member States
For her part, Ms Johansson urged Member States to act and manage the migration challenge, as the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic will increase the movement of people into the EU.
Within a fortnight’s time, the Commission will send Member States “simulations” to assess the various crisis scenarios and the feasibility of the responses envisaged by the Pact, between relocations, aid for returns and new control procedures.
“But numbers are not everything”, added the Commissioner, who called for the exploration of compromises on the most sensitive points of the Pact. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)