This is France’s last chance attempt at the rotating presidency of the EU until 1is July. His challenge: to get the 27 to agree on asylum. For more than eight years, Europeans have been struggling to find a legislative proposal that would bring together the countries of the South, in demand for European solidarity (Italy, Greece, Spain), and others very hostile to any distribution of home (Hungary, Poland). During this period, policies towards refugees deteriorated sharply, warns Acat (Action by Christians for the Abolition of Torture) in a comparative study of eight countries of the European Union (1).
Solidarity with variable geometry
The NGO paints a very heterogeneous picture of asylum in the EU, starting with the number of people received: 148,000 first applications in 2021 in Germany, 103,790 in France, 43,900 in Italy… 40 in Hungary. Paris believes it has a balanced proposal, to regain control. A club of voluntary countries (12 in all) would be ready to relocate 10,000 refugees within their first year of operation. Those who do not join the mechanism will have to show their cohesion in other ways, by helping the countries of first arrival, or by sending teams to manage the EU’s external borders.
Previous attempts at reform were based on the same kind of balance. Without success. The war in Ukraine, however, showed that Warsaw and Budapest could also be on the front line of arrivals. For the first time, the “protective procedure temporary “ was triggered, providing immediate protection to millions of people. “The means deployed to guarantee a dignified welcome to the Ukrainian populations demonstrate that mobilization on a European scale is possible », estimates Acat, which asks “the same generous welcome” for all people in clear need of protection.
Asylum subcategories
The levels of protection can vary completely to nothing, depending on the country. In 2020, the share of Afghan asylum seekers who obtained protection at first instance was 93% in Italy, compared to 1% in Bulgaria. Refugee status gives a right of residence for three years in some countries (Greece, Germany, Hungary, Sweden), five years in others (Netherlands, Belgium, Italy), compared to ten years for France. Everywhere this status is rarefied in favor of others, less protective. “There is a general shift from conventional protection to subsidiary protection, and from subsidiary protection to humanitarian protection”, alerts the report. Subsidiary protection, issued in France for a maximum duration of four years, only lasts one year in Greece, Belgium, Germany or Sweden.
Finally, the Europeans are unable to agree on a list of “safe countries of origin” or some “safe third countries” where asylum seekers can decently be returned without danger. Thus, since last year, Hungary and Denmark have considered Damascus and its neighboring provinces in Syria as “safe areas”.
From the temporary that becomes definitive
Another finding in eight years of immobility on asylum: the quality of reception is deteriorating. “Emergency shelter arrangements are becoming the norm in Europe”, denounces the Acat. In the Netherlands, 80% of accommodation solutions found since September 2021 have been created in gymnasiums or on houseboats. In Greece, improvised camps on the mainland to deal with the most urgent “have become permanent, overcrowded and precarious places to live”.
This trend does not spare France, where the number of emergency accommodation for asylum seekers (Huda, 51,796 places) now exceeds the capacity of reception centers for asylum seekers (Cada, 46,632 places), despite a higher level of quality in the latter. Same logic in Italy, where emergency reception centers represent more than 70% of structures, with limited access to legal support (4.2 minutes per week). Acat calls for standardization of European asylum on reception to guarantee “a dignified standard of living” across the continent. The association calls for guarantees so that refugee status remains the benchmark, when the criteria are met.