As the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE) is due to resume its activities on 13 January with an expected hearing on the Article 78.3 emergency measures to assist Poland, Lithuania and Latvia in managing migration at the Belarusian border (see EUROPE 12844/11) and a hearing on Danish practices in returning refugees to their countries of origin, work is progressing on the various texts of the Pact on Migration and Asylum, notably the Asylum and Migration Management Regulation (AMMR, ex-‘Dublin’ Regulation) and the one on asylum procedures, led by Tomas Tobé (EPP, Sweden) and Fabienne Keller (Renew Europe, France).
The rapporteurs will start the technical discussions with the shadow rapporteurs starting next week for APR and, if possible, the following week for AMMR. On this last text, which organises solidarity in times of migratory pressure and redefines the so-called Dublin criteria, 2,447 amendments were introduced, sometimes going in very opposite directions. MEPs from S&D, the Greens/EFA, but also to some extent from Renew Europe, expressed strong criticism on 26 October (see EUROPE 12820/6), saying that the Swedish rapporteur’s proposal could further worsen the situation of the so-called ‘frontline’ countries.
The coordinators of the Committee on Civil Liberties will also have to appoint two new rapporteurs shortly, both on the reform of the Schengen Borders Code presented on 14 December and on the new Regulation allowing exceptional asylum and return measures in situations of instrumentalisation of migrants, also proposed on 14 December (see EUROPE 12853/1).
An even more complex Pact on Migration and Asylum
Parliament rapporteurs have to deal with a new complexity here: the new Regulation proposed by the Commission, which perpetuates the use of exceptional measures in situations of instrumentalisation and allows for derogations from certain rules on asylum and returns, has been met with mixed reactions.
Some sources in Parliament believe that this text further complicates the work on the Pact, which is already struggling to make progress, and would have preferred this proposal to take the form of an amendment to the texts already on the table in September 2020, for example in the Regulation on crisis or force majeure situations. Some wonder whether a whole new team of rapporteurs and shadow rapporteurs will have to be set up, or whether this Regulation can be brought closer to what is already in the Pact and the teams already set up.
Regarding the revision of the Schengen Code, a decision could be taken in early February by the coordinators, after the traditional Parliament post renewals in January. But no names have been put forward yet. The EPP might be interested in taking over this dossier from the S&D.
Slovenian Tanja Fajon was indeed the main rapporteur on the former Schengen Code reform, proposed in 2017 and suspended due to lack of agreement with the EU Council, but she might leave Parliament on the occasion of the Slovenian general elections in April.
External dimension of migration
The permanent representatives of the Member States to the EU will resume their work on 5 January. They will be invited to approve an ‘Operational Mechanism for the Coordination of Actions on the External Aspects of Migration’ to improve its steering.
This proposal follows the request of the European Council of 16 December to “closely monitor the rapid and effective implementation of the EU’s external migration policy and give it new impetus where necessary”.
The ambassadors could also again take up the Commission’s proposal based on Article 78.3 to help Poland, Lithuania and Latvia, but in order to take stock of how this issue should be handled.
Link to the LIBE Committee agenda of 13 January: https://bit.ly/3sX5VuN (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)