In Ghent on Monday 29 April, the EU Member States began their coordination work on the implementation of the new legislation in the ‘Migration and Asylum Pact’, as well as that arising from the 2016 Asylum Package approved by the European Parliament on 10 April (see EUROPE 13388/11).
They will continue this work on 30 April at a ministerial conference organised by the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU on the ‘operationalisation’ of the ‘Pact’.
The ‘Pact’, which contains new regulations on asylum and migration management, the screening of migrants, asylum procedures at the border, crisis management and the Eurodac database, is intended to anticipate the EU’s response to the various migratory crises by organising a new solidarity towards the countries of first entry and asking them in exchange to strengthen the verification and retention on their territory of migrants arriving at the external borders.
This will be done through enhanced security checks on arrival and by applying accelerated asylum and return procedures more systematically, if they do not have a legitimate claim to protection.
As European Commissioner Ylva Johansson explained on Monday alongside German Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, the Member States are not starting “from scratch”.
Some already apply so-called ‘border’ procedures, which are accelerated procedures for people with a low recognition rate, and the aim of the Pact is to harmonise this practice in all Member States.
In addition, “fourteen Member States” have “begun to partially implement” the ‘Pact’, explained the Commissioner, who will present a full implementation plan for the new rules in June.
In March, the Commission also wrote to the Member States to identify 10 ‘building blocks’ to help them prepare national implementation plans.
These 10 ‘blocks’, or common obligations to be met by 2026, are as follows: - a common information system (Eurodac); - a new system for external borders (the ‘screening’ regulation, return procedures at the border); - the overhaul of reception conditions in line with the new directive resulting from the 2016 Package; - fair and effective procedures that converge (asylum procedure regulation and convergence under the qualification directive); - fair and efficient returns with accelerated return procedures; - a fair and efficient system based on a functioning Dublin system (fairer allocation of Member States’ responsibilities for examining asylum applications); - ensure the success of the solidarity mechanism (based on relocation, financial support and the annual solidarity cycle); - preparedness and contingency plans for crisis situations; - new safeguards for vulnerable migrants and the mechanism for monitoring respect for fundamental rights; - the inclusion and integration of migrants in society.
The Commission will be issuing reports as early as this autumn to assess progress. The Commissioner, who on Monday highlighted the best practices already observed in the Member States, for example in speeding up returns or managing external borders to reduce arrivals, nevertheless acknowledged that full application of the first block on the Eurodac information system could take “longer”, as it depends on the technical advances made by EU-Lisa, the European agency responsible for coordinating European information systems.
Alongside her, the German Minister insisted on the need to “rapidly” implement the ‘Pact’. A “very important” development for the EU, because “open borders in the EU can only be possible if we have a good control. One of the keys is to have a better control of migration and to have a better distribution of all the people who are coming to the European Union, and it will also be better for all the different communities”.
At the beginning of April, the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU submitted a note to the Member States in preparation for this meeting. Published by Statewatch, it explains that “the Commission will play a central role in the implementation of the Pact. However, insofar as it is up to the Member States to translate the obligations of the texts into concrete achievements, it is essential that the interests of the Member States and the role of the Commission are carefully taken into account and reflected in the implementation process”.
The Council of the EU should remain involved in this structured dialogue on the ‘Pact’. The questions raised by the Belgian Presidency on Monday and Tuesday were to focus on the relevance of the 10 blocks identified and the need - or otherwise - to maintain the role of the EU Council at the heart of the implementation process.
Link to the note of 3 April: https://aeur.eu/f/bzx (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)