Negotiators from the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the EU and the European Parliament met on Tuesday 11 July for two new sessions of talks on the Asylum and Migration Management Regulation (AMMR) and Asylum Procedures Regulation (APR).
This was the AMMR’s second round of negotiations. The topics discussed were governance and Articles 3 to 7a, excluding a number of Articles relating to the respective mandates of Parliament and the Council of the EU.
The Articles discussed related to the principle of solidarity and fair sharing of responsibilities or cooperation with third countries to facilitate returns and readmissions.
For APR, the discussions focused on the old provisions of the Regulation presented in 2016 (amended in 2020 with the introduction of the border procedure), in particular the definitions, scope, responsible authorities and interview procedures for asylum seekers.
According to one source, the two meetings took place in a good atmosphere, with both parties intending to reach a political agreement by December, at least on APR, and having already more or less agreed on a series of meetings.
On the latter Regulation, the aim would be first to make progress on the procedural guarantees given to asylum seekers, and then to move on to the more delicate discussions, such as the border procedure and the concept of ‘safe third countries’, which are of concern to some elected representatives.
These two topics are due to be discussed in September.
On AMMR and the annual solidarity cycle, the first exchanges on governance have confirmed that Parliament and the Council of the EU do not see things in the same way, but here again, the most difficult questions should not be tackled until the autumn, in September.
New ‘trilogues’ are due to take place at the autumn plenary session. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)