The Czech Presidency of the Council of the European Union intends to relaunch legislative work on the Pact on Migration and Asylum and in particular to tackle the Asylum and Migration Management Regulation (AMMR), which is the ‘engine’ of the Pact, several sources confirmed to EUROPE on Friday 16 September.
On the same day, the Czech Presidency specifically sounded out Member States on how to move forward on the solidarity part of the Pact and the AMMR, in particular in order to give guarantees to the European Parliament. The EU Council has engaged with the various EU Council Presidencies on a joint roadmap on the Pact (see EUROPE 12998/10) to ensure that all the texts presented are adopted by early 2024. And it wants to make progress on the ‘AMMR’ regulation before embarking on interinstitutional negotiations on two Pact regulations already approved by the EU Council, namely the ‘screening of migrants’ regulation and the ‘Eurodac’ regulation.
Prague was due to submit a new working method on the Pact and the solidarity chapter on 16 September, going further than what the previous French EU Council Presidency had proposed with its solidarity declaration approved in June (see EUROPE 12977/19). This declaration proposed a voluntary mechanism for the relocation of people rescued at sea.
The Czech Presidency’s idea is to rework the provisions of the ‘AMMR on the ‘solidarity’ part and to emphasise certain aspects, such as the predictability of forms of aid at the beginning of the year (solidarity ‘pools’ or the relocation of migrants to help front-line countries.
Prague’s objective is to have a first ministerial exchange of views, on 13 and 14 October in Luxembourg during the EU ‘Home Affairs’ Council, on the solidarity aspects of the AMMR. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)