The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will be travelling to Syria in January, as well as to Jordan, for an EU-Jordan Summit, she confirmed to European leaders in a letter devoted to migration, now sent before each European Summit.
This project was unofficially unveiled on Monday 15 December (see EUROPE 13773/35). At a time when several Member States want to be able to send Syrian refugees back to their countries or more easily send back Syrians whose asylum applications have been rejected and who may pose security risks (see EUROPE 13730/3), the President will visit a country that, one year after Assad’s downfall, “still faces significant political, security, humanitarian and development challenges”.
In particular, she is expected to announce an €80 million cross-border project between Lebanon and Syria to support durable solutions, including voluntary returns for Syrian refugees and internally displaced persons.
Technical mission to Afghanistan. With regard to returns to politically sensitive countries, in particular Afghanistan - which still faces an acute humanitarian and human rights situation - “we are continuing discussions, including in the High-Level Network for Returns, particularly on the handling of cases of third country nationals with criminal convictions and those posing a security risk”, the president also notes.
In close coordination with the EEAS and Frontex, the Commission services have stepped up their joint efforts with the Member States to make progress on the issue of returns to Afghanistan, including through preparatory steps “towards a possible technical-level mission early next year”. Since 5 December, Frontex has extended the EU Reintegration Programme to include voluntary returns to Afghanistan, adds Ms von der Leyen.
For the rest, the President reviews in her letter the state of play on the reforms of the ‘Pact on Migration and Asylum’, the various partnerships agreed or underway with third countries that include a migration component (such as Senegal), and the new rules on returns approved on 8 December by the European Home Affairs Ministers.
Return hubs. With an average return rate of 24% in the EU, a strengthened legal framework, backed up by intensified operational measures, is needed, says the President. The proposed regulation “will put in place key common elements such as the European Return Order, a new legal basis for the possible use of return hubs, and tightened rules for managing absconding and security cases”.
With only six months to go before the entry into force of the ‘Pact on Migration and Asylum’, it is time to focus on putting in place all the building blocks of our Common Implementation Plan, says the President.
Although progress has been steady, “there is still some important work ahead: Eurodac must be ready to use, arrangements for the border procedure need to be in place, and reception capacities must be adequately ensured across all Member States”.
Link to the letter: https://aeur.eu/f/k1h (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)