On the second day of the European Council summit, Friday 19 June, a coalition of 19 European heads of state or government, led by Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, called for the outsourcing of migratory flow management to be accelerated, in a joint letter addressed to António Costa, President of the European Council, Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, and the other heads of state or government.
The signatories call for a pragmatic overhaul of the common migration policy, rejecting the current “status quo”, which they consider unacceptable in view of the profits generated by smuggling networks and the “instrumentalisation of migration”.
Welcoming the recent legislative milestones concluded this month at European level – in particular the European Parliament’s adoption of the Return Regulation, which provides for the creation of ‘return hubs’ in third countries (see EUROPE 13890/13) – they state that a consensus has emerged in favour of an approach that is both “firm and fair”.
In their view, the objective now is to achieve “concrete results” by rapidly developing these so-called “innovative” solutions. The letter cites the existing cooperation between Italy and Albania as an example, while indicating that certain Member States are already working to make the creation of centres or hubs outside the EU a reality.
This is notably the case for the working group formed back in January – Germany, Austria, Denmark, Greece and the Netherlands – which Sweden has recently joined. At the EU ‘Justice and Home Affairs’ Council in Luxembourg, at the beginning of the month, Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Karner had expressed those countries’ ambition to reach a partnership project “by the end of the year” (see EUROPE 13881/3). That prospect was backed at a press conference by Belgian Prime Minister Bart De Wever, although he said he was “more realistic” about the timetable.
The coalition therefore encourages willing Member States to continue these efforts and calls on the European Commission to support them financially. It is also seeking the active cooperation of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration.
Spain still isolated. Furthermore, the Spanish government’s recent decision to carry out a mass regularisation of undocumented migrants was once again attacked on Friday 19 June by several European leaders. “Many countries are very concerned”, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson noted. “While we are doing everything to reduce irregular immigration and are working to ensure that rejected applicants actually leave, [Spain] is doing exactly the opposite”, he deplored.
Criticism that did not make Madrid budge. Taking the view that the new legislation on returns “will provide no solution”, Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez argued that it will “only waste economic resources”. “This regulation, in my view, sends the wrong message to the countries of origin and transit with which, on the contrary, we must work, cooperate and show empathy”, he stressed, “because those countries are also confronted with illegal immigration and need that cooperation from Europe”.
In its conclusions, the European Council announced that a “strategic dialogue on migration” will take place at the next summit, in October.
To see the Member States’ letter: https://aeur.eu/f/mgt (Original version in French by Justine Manaud with the editorial staff)