On 22 July in Budapest, at an informal meeting convened by the Hungarian Presidency of the EU Council, interior and asylum ministers and their representatives will be invited to discuss the prevention of illegal immigration into the EU, through “more coordinated and effective action on the external dimension of migration”.
The implementation in 2025 of interoperability rules for European information systems and the fight against organised crime will be the other two major themes of this meeting.
Preventing illegal immigration is one of the main priorities of the Hungarian Presidency, and it will be a question of discussing new ideas, in cooperation in particular with the countries of departure and transit, but also to “think out of the box”, stresses a note from the Presidency consulted by Agence Europe.
Ministers and their representatives will thus be invited to examine how the effectiveness of the approach based on mutually beneficial global partnerships with third countries can be further improved. The Presidency will ask: “with which third countries and based on which policy aspects should new comprehensive partnerships be built, and what resources are Member States willing to mobilise to this end, beyond the ones provided at EU level?”.
The ministers will also be able to share their views on “jointly exploring existing or new initiatives (including possible further legislative steps or targeted amendments to existing concepts) which could contribute to preventing migrants embarking on perilous journeys towards the EU, increasing the effectiveness of returns or tackling hybrid threats, while ensuring that migrants and asylum seekers are provided with dignified living conditions and sustainable future perspectives as close as possible to their countries of origin”, states the Presidency without ever directly mentioning the plans to outsource asylum applications requested by 15 Member States.
In this discussion paper, the Presidency points out that the consequences of illegal immigration are serious not only for the Member States and the European Union as a whole, but also for the migrants and asylum seekers themselves, who often become dependent on organised criminal groups and, in some cases, hostile non-state actors during their dangerous journey to the EU.
While many successful and forward-looking initiatives have been implemented both at EU and national level in the external field, the reform of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) has been one of the most dominant topics on the EU’s political agenda for many years, writes the Presidency.
“However, without enhancing and coordinating our efforts in the external dimension, the reform of the CEAS will not achieve its desired results, will not significantly reduce the number of illegal departures and migrants embarking on perilous journeys or relieve the migratory pressure on the EU, nor will it decrease the overall burden on Member States”.
With the updated legislative framework, “the beginning of the next institutional cycle provides a unique opportunity to focus more on the external aspects of our migration policy. Consequently, our ambition should not be confined to managing our weaknesses, but should also be focused on finding truly effective solutions”.
The Presidency intends to encourage “new ideas for stronger and coordinated joint approaches”, and to build on existing initiatives such as the EU-Turkey Statement and the Valletta Summit, which created new bridges with African countries, the Presidency writes. The EU must also help third countries to improve the situation of migrants, asylum seekers and refugees as close as possible to their country of origin.
As regards the ministerial presence, the German minister, Nancy Faeser, will not be attending. According to Euractiv, the German government is also considering boycotting the informal meetings organised in Budapest. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)