The human rights committee in Parliament has voted on four bills as part of the EU’s new asylum and migration pact. The main features have been agreed upon by the three largest party groups: the Christian Democrats, the Social Democrats, and the Liberals. This is a significant step towards a common migration policy for the EU. The Green Group also supports some aspects of the proposal. In a vote in 2017, a majority in Parliament demanded that all EU countries accept asylum seekers, but countries such as Hungary, Poland, and the Czech Republic refused to agree. The recent vote in the committee was about all countries contributing to asylum and migration policy, with mandatory asylum seeker redistribution becoming relevant only in crisis situations. The proposal was supported by 47 members, with 17 against and one member abstaining. Viewpoints from other parties and further details about the EU’s asylum and migration pact are also discussed. The countries’ governments in the Council of Ministers plan to make their migration decisions in June, and negotiations will subsequently begin between the Council and Parliament to reach a compromise.
Parliament’s human rights committee voted on four bills that are part of the EU’s new asylum and migration pact. The three largest party groups – the Christian Democrats, the Social Democrats and the Liberals – have managed to agree on the main features. This is a big step towards the EU having a common migration policy. The Green Group also supports parts of the proposal.
Previously, in a vote in 2017, a majority in parliament demanded that all EU countries must accept asylum seekers. Countries such as Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic have refused to agree.
The vote in the committee this time was about all countries contributing to asylum and migration policy, but it is only in crisis situations that it may become relevant for all countries to receive asylum seekers. That proposal was supported by 47 members, 17 voted against and one member abstained.
The moderates’ Tomas Tobé has been the main negotiator on the issue and writes on Twitter that the vote is historic.
https://twitter.com/tomastobe/status/1640699167960866817
Centerns Abir Al-Sahlani, which is part of the liberal group, actually wants a mandatory redistribution of asylum seekers. She defends the compromise by saying that it could have been much worse if the political right-wing forces had their way.
“The proposal could have been far, far worse than what is currently on the table. And there lies a great responsibility on us in the Center Party. Since our party group is the wave master, I cannot sit and bully in a corner and demand that I get everything through. Then we leave the walkover,” she writes in an email to DN.
Abir Al-Sahlani points out that it is important to get a new migration policy in place.
“Those who vote down the proposal today are actually voting yes to defend today’s dysfunctional system where European beaches become burial grounds for children fleeing across the Mediterranean,” she writes.
Photo: Alain Rolland
From the left, the criticism is harsh.
– Our responsibility was to change the Dublin regulation so that countries like Greece, Italy and Spain are not alone with all the responsibility. But these proposals, after all the years of negotiations, do not change that situation, says the Left Party’s Malin Björk in a press release.
The Dublin Regulation means that the country in which an asylum seeker first arrives must also process the application. The system collapsed during the migration crisis of 2015-2016, when, among other things, many Syrian refugees made their way to Europe.
Photo: Alexis Haulot
Malin Björk believes that the worst of today’s asylum policy will remain.
– We will see more detention facilities, such as prison-like island camps in Greece, more legal asylum processes and more deals with countries outside the EU, such as Turkey and Libya. We on the left cannot support this development, says Malin Björk.
In the parliamentary committee voted the Green Group for parts of the migration pact. It supports the compromise proposal on asylum and migration management itself on the grounds that the proposal opens the door to mandatory redistribution of asylum seekers during a crisis and that it offers greater protection for family reunification.
The Greens are satisfied that the link between aid and migration policy is gone.
– Tomas Tobé (M) has failed to get support for his main issue, namely making aid and trade conditional on migration. We Greens had to fight off his proposal at the negotiating table. People on the run must not be used as pawns in the EU’s trade and development policy. It punishes those who already suffer the most and whose governments ignore their own population, says Alice Bah-Kuhnke in a press release.
Photo: Philipp von Ditfurth
The Green group, on the other hand, is against faster asylum processing at the borders. It is pointed out that it risks leading to systematic detention of refugees and that the right to asylum is diluted.
The EU’s other legislative body, the countries’ governments in the Council of Ministers, plan to make their migration decisions in June. Negotiations then begin between the Council and the Parliament to reach a compromise between the different positions.
Read more: Tomas Tobé believes in a breakthrough for new migration policy in the EU