On Thursday 7 December, at the point of going to press, negotiators from the European Parliament and the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union were continuing their discussions on the various texts of the Pact on Migration and Asylum, namely the Regulation on Asylum and Migration Management (RAMM), Asylum Procedures (APR), Eurodac and Screening (see EUROPE 13306/2).
However, progress on both sides was still considered to be very limited late on Thursday. The day’s negotiations began with exchanges on Eurodac, Screening and APR, and meetings on the other texts were to follow, with a plenary session scheduled for the evening, bringing together all the teams from Parliament, the Council of the EU and the Commission, to take stock of the progress made and the persistent sticking points on all the dossiers.
Eurodac. As far as the Eurodac database is concerned, which contains the fingerprints and biometric data of applicants, the first meeting during the day had still not enabled agreement to be reached on the inclusion of a category reserved for people benefiting from the Temporary Protection Directive (TPD), as required by the Council of the EU. In exchange, the institution said it was prepared to drop its request for an amendment to Eurodac to make the database interoperable with the EU’s future entry/exit system. But Parliament remained opposed to the inclusion of the TPD category, believing that these people fall under a Directive on the protection of individuals and not under legislation strictly related to migration, which is the aim of Eurodac.
Parliament considers that the ‘entry/exit’ system has no place in the Eurodac Regulation that has been negotiated, and the fact that the Council of the EU abandoned its request was not seen as a particularly strong gesture towards Parliament.
In the meantime, the open point on the adjustment of data retention periods for resettled persons (persons already having protection in a third country and resettled in the EU) would have been sealed with an adjusted retention period for resettled persons of five years, while maintaining the data retention period for applicants for international protection at 10 years.
Regulation on screening of migrants. On the ‘Screening’ Regulation, as expected, the negotiators had not made any progress on Thursday, at the time of going to press, on the most sensitive issues, namely the location of controls, whether in the border area or throughout the territory, as the EU Council wants, or on the extension of the mechanism for monitoring fundamental rights to the surveillance of external borders, as Parliament wants, to check that there is no pushback. On these two points, the Council of the EU had left no room for manoeuvre on Wednesday, during a discussion by the permanent representatives, and the Spanish Presidency still showed no willingness to budge on these two points on Thursday. The negotiators have made some small progress on other issues, for example on the duration of screening, which can be extended to seven days instead of five, but with no possibility of extension.
Asylum Procedure Regulation. On the Asylum Procedure Regulation (APR), the Council of the EU is said to have shown some openness, for example on free legal aid throughout the procedure, but remained reluctant to grant it as early as the administrative procedure. To facilitate an agreement, the Commission is expected to come up with new, potentially financial, proposals on this point.
According to one source, the EU Council was also open on Thursday about the length of procedures. In a preparatory note dated 5 December, the Spanish Presidency proposed that the border procedure should last 12 weeks, with the sole possibility of a four-week extension for transfers under the RAMM.
But Thursday’s discussions remained difficult over the exclusion of minors and families from the notorious border procedure.
Regulation on Asylum and Migration Management. On the Regulation on Asylum and Migration Management (RAMM), no significant breakthrough had been made at the time of going to press either, although the Council of the EU now seems likely to accept the criterion of a diploma obtained in a Member State for the latter to be responsible for an asylum application. But the Council of the EU remained closed on the criterion of brothers and sisters and family reunification.
Solidarity mechanism. Discussions on the solidarity mechanism – and the aid to be given to countries under pressure – began later in the day. But some sources were already reporting very tough discussions, with the Council of the EU again failing to make any gesture towards Parliament.
Crisis Regulation. Finally, on the Crisis Regulation, the obstacle of the inclusion of the instrumentalisation dimension was removed Thursday night. Parliament refused to extend the mandate of the Regulation to these situations, which would justify even greater derogations from the right of asylum and the texts on returns.
The question of the solidarity response and compulsory relocations also remained important for certain groups, as did the question of governance, with Parliament wanting a broader role in this Regulation via delegated acts entrusted to the Commission.
EUROPE will continue to follow this story. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)