2023-06-09 00:37:54
European interior ministers reached agreement on Thursday on two key aspects of a reform of migration policy, after a day of difficult negotiations. A compromise text has been drawn up, in order to rally as many people as possible, and in particular the Mediterranean countries, which are the countries through which migrants arrive in the EU.
The reform provides for a system of solidarity between Member States in the care of refugees, and an accelerated examination of the asylum applications of certain migrants at the borders, in order to return them more easily to their country of origin or transit.
One of the texts approved by the ministers provides for compulsory but “flexible” solidarity within the EU in the care of asylum seekers. Member States would be required to receive a certain number of these applicants arriving in an EU country subject to migratory pressure, or failing that to make a financial contribution.
The planned financial compensation is around 20,000 euros for each asylum seeker who is not relocated. These sums would be paid into a fund managed by the Commission and intended to finance projects linked to the management of migration.
The other text endorsed by the ministers obliges the Member States to implement an accelerated procedure for examining asylum applications – 12 weeks maximum -, in centers located at the borders, for migrants who have statistically the least chance to be granted refugee status. This is the case, for example, of nationals “from Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Senegal, Bangladesh and Pakistan”, commented the Belgian Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration. , Nicole deMoor.
Rejected migrants going to “safe” third countries
Italy and Greece, as well as other countries, claimed to be able to return migrants whose right to asylum has been rejected to “safe” third countries through which they have transited, even in the absence of other links (family , work…) between the migrant and this country. An idea that met with hostility from Germany. The compromise provides that it is up to the Member States to assess whether simple transit constitutes a sufficient link.
The German minister had demanded that “families with young children should not be subject to the border procedure”. This provision, which was defended by a minority of Member States, is however only annexed to the text.
French Minister Gérald Darmanin, who had to leave the meeting hastily the morning after the knife attack in Annecy, felt that “all is not perfect” in the proposals. “But it is by making this compromise that we will manage to be more effective and above all to bring the European Union to life,” he declared.
Poland and Hungary voted against these proposals, while Bulgaria, Malta, Lithuania and Slovakia abstained, we learned from the Swedish Presidency of the Council of the EU, which led the long and complex negotiations.
This green light paves the way for talks with the European Parliament, with a view to adopting the reform before the European elections in June 2024.
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