The Member States’ national ambassadors to the EU will be asked on Friday 28 January to endorse the French EU Council Presidency’s compromise on emergency interim measures for Latvia, Lithuania and Poland in response to the late 2021 crisis with Belarus, almost two months after they were presented.
The measures, in the form of an EU Council Decision, were proposed on 1 December (see EUROPE 12844/11) and provide for these three countries to be able to extend the time limits for registering asylum applications and to derogate from certain directives, such as those on reception conditions. The possibility of detaining these arrivals on EU territory has also been confirmed.
The latest compromise text that will be submitted to the three countries seems to address the concerns raised by some Member States regarding the fundamental rights of migrants. The text thus no longer advocates the sole priority review of asylum applications that appear to be well-founded, but stipulates that the three countries must examine all applications as a matter of priority, including those of minors and vulnerable persons.
While the European Commission had proposed a registration period for asylum applications of up to 4 weeks, instead of the normal 10 days, the French EU Council Presidency also proposes to extend it to 5 weeks, if the situation justifies it.
The text also stresses the need to avoid any violence at the external borders and stipulates that the border procedure should be stopped as soon as a migrant is considered to be in a vulnerable situation, for example in terms of health. The person should then be immediately considered as admitted to the EU territory.
The compromise also specifies that Belarusian nationals are not covered by this decision so that they will not be able to benefit from these rules.
The compromise text still removes all provisions on possible derogations from the Returns Directive.
Follow-up discussion on the Pact
On Friday, the ambassadors will continue their discussions on the gradual approach defended by Paris on the ‘Pact on Migration and Asylum’.
The French EU Council Presidency would like to focus the discussion on four aspects: - external border controls and registration; - financial/material support to Member States in charge of external border protection; - EU return and readmission policy; and - support in terms of reception efforts, including the idea of a relocation mechanism for persons in need of protection, particularly in regard to the provision of assistance at sea, as well as alternative solidarity contributions.
The questions include the location and degree of flexibility allowed for carrying out checks on migrants at the external borders in order to avoid them all taking place at the external borders. The EU Council Presidency also asks about alternatives to detention to avoid flight risks.
The text also revisits Eurodac and the possible inclusion in this data register of a category on search and rescue at sea, a category which did not reach consensus in 2021.
On the voluntary relocation mechanism for migrants in need of protection, including those rescued at sea, the EU Council Presidency will also sound out the willingness of the Member States to work on such a mechanism, which would be inspired by the Valletta agreement and in which the role of the European Commission will have to be defined.
Link to the French compromise: https://bit.ly/3G5fMlf
Link to the note on the Pact: https://bit.ly/3Aw76mR (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)