The EU-27 adopted conclusions on the external dimension of the EU’s migration policy, on Thursday 24 June, for an item dealt with in less than 20 minutes.
They called on the European Commission and the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs to “immediately” establish “concrete and tangible” actions towards “priority” third countries of origin and transit.
The Commission and Josep Borrell are indeed invited to present in “autumn 2021” specific migration partnerships with third countries that are priorities for the EU and Member States in terms of migrant inflows and routes to the EU. This deadline has been added from an earlier draft of the European Council conclusions.
The leaders renewed the call to make the best use of the 10% of the NDICI Fund that should be directed towards migration management and other European programmes.
They also condemned attempts by third countries, such as Morocco and Belarus, to use migration for political purposes.
Lithuanian President Gitanas Nausėda, on his arrival in Brussels, had mentioned the problems encountered with Belarus, which is letting migrants through in greater numbers than before. “The migration problem is becoming very important, not only for Lithuania, but also for the EU as a whole, as sending migrants across the border to the EU is becoming the official position of Belarus. This means that the number of migrants has increased dramatically in the last month and we have to deal with it”, he said.
The Frontex Agency has sent teams to Lithuania. Its Executive Director, Fabrice Leggeri, told the European Parliament on 23 June that irregular crossings were around 20 per week, compared with 20 per month previously. In 2020, 81 people crossed the border between Belarus and Lithuania irregularly, according to official Lithuanian data.
See the conclusions of the European Council: https://bit.ly/3xOTlNt (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic with the Editors)