The Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU has translated the progress made under the French and Czech Presidencies of the EU Council on the balance between solidarity and responsibility into a first ever compromise text.
More specifically, on Wednesday 18 January, it submitted to the Asylum Working Party of the Council of the EU a first text amending the Regulation on asylum and migration management (ex-Dublin) presented in 2020 and which constitutes the flagship text of the Pact on Migration and Asylum. This Regulation specifically organises solidarity in times of migratory pressure, but also concerns the so-called ‘Dublin criteria’, setting out the responsibilities of Member States in relation to asylum applications.
Dated 11 January, the document introduces, among other things, the concept of solidarity, organised around annual commitments on migration, which Prague had been advancing via ‘concept notes’. EU Interior Ministers validated this progress on 8 December in Brussels (see EUROPE 13080/2).
In this first formal document, the Swedish Presidency therefore specifies the organisation of the annual migration cycles, the criteria for identifying situations of migratory pressure and also defines the solidarity mechanism based on the principle of a ‘pool’ of resources agreed annually between the Commission and the Member States. A distribution key (between population and GDP) is again introduced to define the mandatory concept of ‘fair contribution’ to solidarity.
As agreed under the Czech Presidency, the concept of ‘return partnerships’ disappears from the draft Regulation, as it is no longer considered a possible solidarity measure. The last Presidencies had also merged the specific proposals for search and rescue operations at sea with the general measures of this ‘solidarity pool’.
On the functioning of solidarity, each year the Commission will adopt “a Recommendation regarding the establishment of the Solidarity Pool and identifying the measures from the Permanent EU Toolbox necessary to address the migratory situation in the upcoming year in a balanced manner”, the text explains.
The Recommendation will identify each year “the annual numbers for relocations and for direct financial contributions” to the beneficiary countries.
The solidarity pool will consist of “relocation of asylum seekers or illegally staying third-country nationals as well as direct financial contributions provided by Member States primarily aiming at projects related to the area of migration, border management and asylum or at projects in third countries”. Alternative solidarity measures may focus on capacity building, services, staff support, facilities and technical equipment.
A series of criteria is also set to determine a country under pressure which could then seek assistance from its partners. The Commission will assess, for example, the number of applications for international protection, return decisions, so-called ‘Dublin’ transfers or the number of persons apprehended in connection with irregular border crossings. The extent and trends of unauthorised secondary movements will also be taken into account.
The obligations under Dublin (Member States’ responsibility for asylum cases) are also being adapted, particularly in light of solidarity efforts.
The general Dublin criteria (which determine the responsibility of a Member State) are also treated as the general criterion covering the award of a degree in a Member State after a period of study of at least one year in that territory.
The Swedish Presidency is committed to taking forward this Regulation, which replaces the revision of the Dublin Regulation proposed in 2016. Its work programme aims at a possible political agreement in June.
Link to the text: https://aeur.eu/f/4y7 (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)