EU interior ministers meeting in Brussels on 9 December “moved” the debate on the Asylum Pact “forward” and may even agree to agree on the Eurodac regulation (the database for biometric data of asylum seekers and irregular migrants) before the end of the Slovenian Presidency of the EU Council, Slovenian Interior Minister Aleš Hojs reported after the meeting.
“The debate has evolved and I have the impression that a large majority of states are ready not to require a package approach”, he added.
On Thursday, the European ministers were invited to discuss several issues, starting with hybrid threats and the situation on the border with Belarus. They were also invited, over lunch, to discuss the state of play of the Pact on Migration and Asylum and the five legislative dossiers that the Slovenian Presidency has been pushing forward at technical level, but without being able to obtain partial mandates yet.
On hybrid threats, Member States have seen “de-escalation” with Belarus, reported Commissioner Ylva Johansson, who noted that there are now “more returns than arrivals of migrants” at the Polish, Latvian or Lithuanian borders.
This discussion allowed Member States to reiterate their interest in the reform of the Schengen Code which will arrive next week, commented the Commissioner.
“All Member States are facing challenges”, she stressed, noting that countries such as Cyprus and Spain, with the Canary Islands, are also under pressure.
In particular, Cyprus has recently asked the Commission to also benefit from measures based on Article 78.3 of the Treaty. But the commissioner said on Thursday morning that she considers the situation in Cyprus to be “very different”.
The discussion on hybrid threats was also an opportunity to talk about secondary movements, which Member States also expect to be firmly addressed by the reform of the Schengen Code. For the Minister, these secondary movements of migrants and asylum seekers between Member States should be taken into account when defining the responsibility of Member States (to be balanced with solidarity).
The commissioner also pointed to “constructive” elements on the commitments to receive Afghans on European soil, which she said had been increased to 40,000.
Pact on Migration and Asylum
With regard to the Pact, the discussion submitted to the Ministers focused in particular on the feasibility of certain proposals and their specific provisions on the balance between solidarity and responsibility.
The Slovenian Presidency of the Council of the EU stated in its concept paper that the political impetus to move the issues forward is currently lacking.
The text of the Eurodac Regulation is ready, for example, but “cannot yet be adopted”. And without “guidance at the political level, it is not clear that it will be possible to go much further on the other proposals”, the note says.
Slovenia explains that it has also been working, like the Portuguese EU Council Presidency before it, on additional digital simulations and flowcharts, in particular on asylum procedures at the borders, taking into account two issues: the scope of persons included in the compulsory asylum procedure at the border with regard to the 20% recognition rate, and the envisaged exceptions to this procedure, notably minors under 12 years of age and their family members.
The issue of secondary movements in relation to the notion of responsibility and solidarity was also the subject of simulations. And all of these studies “confirmed that further discussion is needed on the practical feasibility of the proposals and their predictability, as well as on the overall balance of the proposals”.
European Asylum Agency
It should be noted that on 9 December, the Council of the EU definitively adopted the regulation on the new European Asylum Agency (formerly EASO), which will be able to provide more support to the Member States on the ground and converge the criteria for granting protection.
Link to the agreement: https://bit.ly/3oBuACv (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)