Despite the focus on Ukraine, Interior Ministers of EU Member States were able to exchange views on Thursday 3 March on the ‘Migration and Asylum Pact’ and the first stage of the gradual approach pursued by Paris: it consists of agreeing on elements of responsibility at external borders (screening of migrants, Eurodac regulation), a counterpart of solidarity (voluntary relocation, financial support) and a new approach with regard to third countries.
If the idea put forward by the French Presidency was to reach an agreement on this first stage, it would have to wait for the June Council. The Ukrainian crisis is “delaying [the work] a little” but also simultaneously “validating” the relevance of the approach pursued by the Presidency, said the French Minister, Gérald Darmanin.
The Minister hopes that the Czech Presidency will then be able to translate the elements of this first stage into specific agreements (e.g. adoption of ‘screening’ and Eurodac regulations), before opening up a one-year implementation period, at the end of which an evaluation will be made.
The European Commission was also asked on Thursday to “clarify for the June Council” the proposal it made in Lille at the start of February to strengthen the political governance of the Frontex agency by, for example, holding regular meetings between the management board and interior ministers.
In a note dated 2 March, the French Presidency detailed the key elements of this first approach: it specifies, for example, what possibilities there are for the legal status of persons to be managed at the borders under the ‘screening’ regulation, and who would not be considered over a period of 5 days – or 10 days maximum in “exceptional circumstances” – as having returned to European territory.
A category in Eurodac “could be created for people disembarked after rescue operations at sea. This would provide the European Commission and Member States with a clear picture of these arrivals and help them to assess the pressure borne by certain Member States”, the note suggests, while also echoing ideas that have already been put forward in Lille.
Member States would also make a commitment “to put in place a compulsory solidarity mechanism, whether this might be a relocation mechanism or alternative solidarity contributions”, such as financial support, the note added.
Link to the document (in French): https://aeur.eu/f/lz (Original version by Solenn Paulic)