MEPs on the European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties (LIBE) called on the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the European Union, on Monday 29 January, to show ambition on a number of issues, including the removal of online child sexual abuse material, which has been blocked in the EU Council.
Several MEPs also asked the Belgian Minister of the Interior, Annelies Verlinden, and the Belgian Secretary of State for Asylum, Nicole de Moor, who had come to present their country’s priorities for the first half of the year, to have the same ambition for the implementation of the ‘Pact on Migration and Asylum’, particularly with regard to the defence of fundamental rights.
On the removal of online child sexual abuse material, Ms Verlinden was challenged in particular by Birgit Sippel (S&D, German), whose draft report on interim legislation on the same subject will be put to the vote on Wednesday 31 January.
While the EU Council has still not reached agreement on the draft permanent regulation presented by the Commission in May 2022, the MEP called on the EU Council not to extend the current derogations from the e-privacy directive “for another 3 years”. These agreements, which call on players in the Internet sector to track down such content on a voluntary basis, are due to expire in August 2024. The Commission has therefore proposed to the Member States and the European Parliament that these provisions be extended for a further 2 years, in the absence of agreement on a permanent instrument.
However, the Belgian Minister of the Interior could only assure the MEP that work would resume at the EU Council with further bilateral discussions and new compromises, without however giving any indication of the chances of success under the Belgian Presidency.
Migration. On the ‘Pact on Migration and Asylum’, Nicole de Moor was questioned several times about the lack of balance in the texts and the fact that provisions on fundamental rights were sometimes absent, deplored the Greens/EFA MEP, Saskia Bricmont (Belgium).
The Renew Europe MEP, Sophie in ’t Veld (Dutch), also questioned whether Belgium could be best placed to implement the ‘Pact’ when its asylum agency, Fedasil, has been condemned thousands of times for failing to comply with court rulings on the accommodation of asylum seekers.
These criticisms were brushed aside by the Secretary of State, who reiterated the Presidency’s intention to focus on the operational implementation of the Pact, which she said would make a difference on the ground and enable migration to be better managed.
The Secretary of State said that once the technical work had been finalised, the texts of the ‘Pact’ could be submitted to the European Parliament for a vote at the end of March.
The Belgian Presidency representatives also made a commitment to the MEPs to complete the reform of the Schengen Borders Code, which will be the subject of a new trilogue meeting on 30 January, the dossier on Advance Passenger Information (API) and, on the issue of migration, to prepare for the future care of Ukrainian refugees in the EU and to step up exchanges with third countries to increase the rate of return of illegal immigrants. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)