The ministers of the Interior of the European Union have reiterated this Friday the commitment to act together in the face of migratory pressure and reach an agreement for a pact «resilient to abuses» before the end of the legislature in 2024, pointing out keys such as the reinforcement of the external border, speeding up returns and better cooperation that have been on the table for two years without managing to resolve the fundamental differences.
«If we have learned anything, it is that the answers are necessarily European. We welcome the spirit of trust and cooperation in which the ministers have come. It has been different from the spirit of the ‘Ocean Viking’ crisis that allowed populist forces to say that Europe is not capable of providing answers. Today the ministers have shown that this is not true,» said the Vice-President of the European Commission responsible for Migration, Margaritis Schinas, after the extraordinary meeting of interior ministers in Brussels convened to defuse the tension over the disembarkation of the NGO ship.
The EU-27 have pointed out the importance of devoting all efforts to find a compromise on the reform of the EU asylum and migration policy before the end of the current mandate of the Commission, in 2024.
Ministers agreed on the objective of having a sustainable asylum and migration system that is resilient «to abuse» and also able to deal with the consequences of disembarkation of migrants following rescue operations at sea.
During the meeting, member states from the Mediterranean basin called for more solidarity to be able to welcome people arriving by sea, diplomatic sources have told Europa Press.
According to Schinas, «all the ministers» have supported the European Commission’s plan with about twenty measures, including reactivating the voluntary relocation platform, laying the groundwork for progress at the Interior meeting next December.
«Migration should not be an issue that intoxicates politics, we must bring normality to the debate and continue to demonstrate that Europe is part of the solution, said the Greek commissioner, giving as an example the EU’s management of the reception of Ukrainian refugees or the response to migration orchestrated by Belarus a year ago.
The European Interior chiefs met this Friday in an extraordinary meeting that sought to «facilitate dialogue» between countries, in an attempt to reduce tension due to disagreements such as the one that led France to recently break with the voluntary relocation of refugees, after the crisis experienced with the boat of the NGO ‘Ocean Viking’, to which Italy refused to allow their arrival.
In the meantime, Brussels has put forward an action plan with about twenty measures, including reactivating the voluntary relocation platform agreed this year, which can serve as a «bridge» to the permanent mechanism that exists within the framework of the Pact on Migration and Asylum. Schinas announced that Brussels will launch a similar plan for the Balkan region before the EU-Balkans summit on December 6 in Tirana.
It has been two years since Schinas, together with the Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, presented a proposal for the reform of the migration and asylum policy with which to establish a balance between solidarity and responsibility of the EU countries that seeks to bridge the gap between the southern countries, more exposed, and others such as Hungary that reject any reception.
The Pact proposes binding measures, including a mechanism for the distribution between partners of the reception of refugees that will allow governments that do not want to assume their share to contribute financially, as well as a reinforcement of the control of the external border of the EU and a boost to cooperation with the countries of origin and transit of irregular routes to curb departures and expedite deportations.
This debate takes on greater importance at a time when, according to Frontex data, in the first 10 months of the year, around 275,000 irregular entries were detected at the EU’s external borders, 73% more than in the same period last year. This is the highest record for the first 10 months of the year since 2016.
