The draft report by Patryk Jaki (ECR, Polish) on the instrumentalisation of migration, presented on 28 November to the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE), received a mixed reception, with the left-wing groups calling for it to be rejected and arguing that it worsens the Commission’s initial proposal.
This text, presented at the end of 2021 in the wake of events at the border with Belarus, is the final piece in the ‘Pact on Migration and Asylum’. However, unlike the EU Council, which chose to merge it with the ‘Crisis’ regulation, presented in 2020, the European Parliament chose to keep it separate.
In terms of procedures, the Dutch MEP, Tineke Strik (Greens/EFA), on Tuesday, urged the Chair of the LIBE Committee, Spain’s Juan Fernando López Aguilar (S&D), who is the rapporteur on the ‘Crisis’, to compartmentalise the negotiations and reject any discussion with the EU Council on the ‘instrumentalisation’ aspect.
LIBE MEPs began their day with a hearing on an independent impact study, which found that the ‘Instrumentalisation’ Regulation violates the Treaties by already denying the principle of effective remedies and making appeals non-suspensive.
The Polish MEP rejected the findings of the study and stated that his recommendations will improve matters for countries facing instrumentalisation, such as for Finland today.
He proposes, for example, that Member States should have 20 weeks to examine an emergency asylum procedure, including appeals, compared to 16 weeks in the Commission’s proposal.
He abolishes the maximum time limit for registering asylum applications under the emergency asylum and return procedure (four weeks left to the authorities to register applications in the 2021 text).
“In a situation of instrumentalisation, it is particularly important that all measures are taken to prevent irregular secondary migration, while providing full support to one or more Member States faced with the arrival of third-country nationals or stateless persons as a result of such a situation. In addition, this regulation is without prejudice to the exercise of the responsibilities incumbent upon Member States with regard to the maintenance of law and order and the safeguarding of internal security”, he added.
He also underlines, with regard to returns, the right to derogate from the application of the Returns Directive or the Asylum Procedures Regulation and to have recourse to national law. The reception conditions for the people concerned could also be made more flexible, as the Member States cannot always offer the best possible conditions, he explained.
For Pietro Bartolo MEP (S&D, Italian), this text simply downgrades the original proposal and will have a major impact on the people concerned, with permanent derogations. The Renew Europe group also found the report “unacceptable”.
The rapporteur did not find these comments very constructive. “I don’t believe that rejecting the text is the solution”, he concluded. Amendments must be tabled by the 1 December.
Link to the report: https://aeur.eu/f/9tr (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)