In recent days, the EU Member States have continued their work on the Pact on Migration and Asylum presented in September 2020. With regard to the regulation on the ‘screening’ of migrants at the external borders, they have reiterated their interest in measures to prevent the risk of people subject to these security checks absconding, as indicated in documents dated early December.
If alternatives to detention can be considered and effective remedies must exist to challenge detention, Member States would have a duty to hold such persons in designated places where it is certain that they would not be able to escape checks by the authorities.
This screening stage, once completed, should not imply that the screened person will not subsequently undergo further checks.
If a person is apprehended in a Member State and the authorities have doubts as to whether they have crossed the EU’s external border in an authorised manner or have undergone initial screening, they may be taken back immediately by another Member State, which must carry out checks immediately.
With regard to the Regulation on Asylum and Migration Management (ex-Dublin Regulation), several Member States reiterated their opposition to certain measures, such as the broadening of the definition of ‘family’ (to include siblings) or the definition of migratory pressure, which - as Austria fears - would automatically exclude countries that are not located at the external borders from solidarity measures.
Vienna and Warsaw are opposed to a permanent mechanism on solidarity in the case of rescues at sea. The Netherlands also considers a separate and specific system for rescue operations at sea to be complex. France believes that it should be possible for solidarity contributions to be reduced if there is no consensus on the responsibility measures to be put in place. The aim of this is to take into account secondary movements.
Links to working documents: https://bit.ly/32288tn and https://bit.ly/3IRidu8 (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)