Member States’ ambassadors to the EU were due to discuss the external dimension of migration with Commission Vice-President Margarítis Schinás on Wednesday 12 January, as well as how to go forward with the ‘Pact on Migration and Asylum’, with the French Presidency of the EU Council aiming to follow a step-by-step approach to ensure unanimous support at every stage.
The Presidency plans, as a first step, to work on a new consensus on the balance between responsibility and solidarity. According to one source, its idea would be to move forward on the screening regulation for migrants at the external borders, for the ‘responsibility’ part, and, in parallel, on an ad hoc solidarity mechanism, based on the model of the Valletta agreement in 2019, relying on voluntary participation of member countries in the relocation of asylum seekers. A model which, at the time, only brought together some ten or so Member States, with, moreover, random participation.
The French idea would be to encourage a kind of parallel adoption of the two tools. The EU Home Affairs Ministers, meeting informally in Lille on 3 February, may be asked to consider this proposed combination.
When contacted by EUROPE, the French Presidency of the EU Council had not given any details on this proposal at the time of writing, nor had it confirmed its content.
The Ambassadors also validated the operational coordination mechanism for the external dimension of migration (MOCADEM) on 12 January and launched the written adoption procedure. The subject had already been discussed on 5 January and the mechanism approved in principle (see EUROPE 12862/6). (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)