Meeting in Cyprus on Friday 7 and Saturday 8 October, the interior ministers of the ‘Med5’ (Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta, Spain) asked their partners to help them monitor the EU’s external borders and prevent irregular arrivals.
They also asked them, in a joint declaration, to recognise their geographical specificities and to agree on a credible solidarity mechanism.
“We expect the Commission and fellow Member States to take in due consideration the specificities that result from geographical conditions and geopolitical developments in relation to front-line Member States, including the impact of sea borders, disembarkations, and SAR operations. In this regard it is essential to provide for an effective predictable and mandatory solidarity mechanism that reflects the needs on the ground. Assurances are required that the needs identified will be met through the solidarity contributions,” the text states, as the Czech Presidency of the EU Council has re-launched discussions on the ‘solidarity’ part of the ‘Asylum and Migration Pact’.
“There should be greater emphasis on border management at the external borders of the Union, through enhanced pre-frontier surveillance along all migratory routes and prevention of irregular crossings, including on the Green Line in the case of Cyprus”, the statement adds.
The Ministers further call on all actors to engage in “an honest dialogue” to create “a truly common European asylum and migration system, based on the genuine and required balance between solidarity and fair sharing of responsibility. (...) Having reaffirmed the political will to work towards an agreement on the Pact before the end of the current legislative term, as agreed in the joint roadmap with the European Parliament, we should ensure progress on the negotiations respects a balanced approach”, they add.
EU interior ministers will discuss the issue in Luxembourg on 14 October.
Link to the statement: https://aeur.eu/f/3i2 (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)