Members of the European Parliament from across the political spectrum called, in plenary on Wednesday 23 June, for EU leaders to make concrete progress on asylum and migration policy at the EU summit on 24-25 June.
“I thank the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, for putting this item on the agenda of the summit”, said the president of the Renew Europe group, the Romanian, Dacian Cioloș. He indicated that the European Parliament was ready to enter into negotiations. “The Ministers of Home Affairs need to adopt a position and start negotiating. And they will only be able to do so under pressure from their head of state.”
The Renew Europe group, together with the S&D, the Greens/EFA and The Left, want to work on the distribution of migrants on the continent. “We need a mandatory resettlement mechanism, a clear and precise action plan for maritime search and rescue operations and safe port disembarkation. The EU must humanise its common migration policy”, said Javier Moreno Sánchez (S&D, Spain).
In this sense, these different groups support putting the Malta Declaration back on the agenda. This September 2019 agreement between France, Italy, Germany, Malta and Finland aims to ease the burden on Mediterranean countries by relocating migrants between the different signatories (see EUROPE 12333/1).
The EPP, on the other hand, is more reserved on the issue of the relocation of migrants. According to the group, the main aim is to control the EU’s external borders more effectively. François-Xavier Bellamy (EPP, France) said “there is only one way to stop all the deaths in the Mediterranean: it is to make it clear that no one will be able to settle in Europe without being legally allowed to do so”.
EPP members are not far from the Conservative position on this point. The latter reject the concept of solidarity between Member States in receiving migrants.
Rule of law
During the plenary debate, MEPs also expressed strong support for the LGBTQ community in Hungary. The EPP, S&D, Renew Europe, The Left and Greens/EFA groups denounced Hungary’s new law banning the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality among minors.
For Philippe Lamberts (Greens/EFA, Belgium), this violation of freedoms by Hungary should have been the only item on the agenda of the European Council.
For his group, but also for The Left and the S&D, the Commission should take action and activate the Rule of law conditionality mechanism against Hungary.
The groups also called for the European Parliament to fly the rainbow flag of the LGBTQ community tonight at the Euro football match between Hungary and Germany.
MEPs did not really address the other issues on the agenda of the EU summit.
See the draft conclusions of the European Council: https://bit.ly/3zOc3Xq (Original version in French by Léa Marchal)