EU leaders will discuss the issue of migration on the morning of Friday 22 October and review the action plans with third countries that they requested from the European Commission in June.
This discussion will allow to “look at where we are” in cooperation with precisely eight key third countries for irregular immigration and “see how we can improve our tools”, according to a diplomat.
Italy, through its Prime Minister Mario Draghi, is also expected to use the occasion to ask the EU to come up with “clear and adequately funded” plans for managing the Mediterranean migration routes, AFP reported.
The situation at the external borders with Belarus should in any case largely enter the debates, several sources also anticipated, with the European Council expected to recall that it condemns attempts by third countries to use migrants for their own ends. The issue of sanctions against the Minsk regime will also be discussed in this context (see EUROPE 12814/1).
As for the request of 12 member countries to have anti-migrant walls financed by European funds, the subject could also come up in the discussion. “You can’t stop a country from protecting its border, but at the same time there are asylum obligations. This balance needs to be better defined”, comments a source.
“We expect a long and complex discussion”, says another diplomat. For some Member States will also want to talk about internal aspects and secondary movements of migrants (i.e. people registered in one Member State and then re-identified in another).
“We cannot just talk about the external borders”, says a diplomatic source, believing that the revision of the Schengen Code scheduled for November could be the right opportunity to address the issue, as some countries experience levels of secondary movements “similar to 2015-2016”.
See the draft conclusions dated 18 October: https://bit.ly/3B0jJVD (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic with the editorial staff)