2024-04-10 21:16:14
by Francesca Basso
The Italian Democratic Party voted against its own side (the Social Democrats). Von der Leyen: historic agreement. NGOs in revolt. Orbn: Another nail in the EU’s coffin
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FROM OUR CORRESPONDENT
BRUSSELS The political meaning of the new Pact for Migration and Asylum which the European Parliament definitively approved on Wednesday, after years of negotiations which make the agreement historic, can be summarized in the words of the President of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen : With the pact on migration no country will be left alone, we have introduced a mandatory solidarity mechanism: the best Europe is the Europe that moves together. But above all: The rules make external borders safer by protecting people’s fundamental rights.
There have been protests by humanitarian organizations regarding the rights of migrants for months and on Wednesday the vote in the Chamber was suspended for a few minutes due to the shouts of This Pact kills, vote No from the NGO Abolish Frontex. From the beginning, the objective of the new Pact has been to rebalance the responsibilities and burdens in the management of asylum seekers among the EU countries, between those of first entry to which the Dublin regulation attributes responsibility for the management of applications for protection and those recipients of the secondary movements (the phenomenon whereby a migrant enters an EU country and then moves irregularly to request asylum in another state). However, the compulsory solidarity, although flexible between the voluntary relocation of asylum seekers or a financial contribution foreseen in crisis situations, still yesterday saw opposition from Hungary and Poland despite the change of government in Warsaw. For the Hungarian Prime Minister Orbn, unity is dead, safe borders no longer exist, another nail in the coffin of the European Union. And Polish Prime Minister Tusk of the EPP reiterated his no to the solidarity mechanism.
The Pact consists of nine provisions that standardize the rules on the management of asylum seekers among EU countries. For its approval, a package logic was followed: to pass, the green light was needed for all the new rules, the result of a delicate balance and mutual concessions between the States. Border controls are strengthened with pre-entry screening procedures and a common procedure is established at EU level for granting or withdrawing international protection. The Pact provides a solid legislative framework that is the same for all Member States, underlined the President of the European Parliament Roberta Metsola, admitting that it will not magically solve all the problems overnight, but represents gigantic steps forward: We have responded to one of the main concerns of European citizens, we have kept our promise this evening. Of course, there is still a lot to do on repatriations and collaboration with our partner countries.
On the eve of the vote, there was widespread fear in Brussels that the Pact might not be approved by the plenary despite the fact that the majority groups – popular, socialist and liberal – had announced their support, but with the defections of some national delegations which for electoral reasons went to add to the declared no of the Greens, the Left, the M5S and the far right. Like the Polish delegation of the EPP or among the socialists the Democratic Party (in favor only of the regulation that provides for the solidarity mechanism) and the French delegation against the agreement in an anti-Meloni or anti-Macron key. An incomprehensible voting choice for Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo – Brussels has the rotating presidency – for whom blocking the Pact means agreeing with the status quo. The government parties were divided yesterday: Brothers of Italy in favor of most of the measures, in dissent from the ECR group, and Forza Italia aligned with the EPP while the League voted against over half of the texts.
Now the Pact will have to be definitively approved by the Council (the States). The regulations are expected to start applying in two years.
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April 10, 2024 (changed April 10, 2024 | 11:15 pm)
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