(ANSA) - BRUSSELS, DECEMBER 01 - The suspension of some rules on asylum and EU repatriation giving greater flexibility to Poland, Latvia and Lithuania.
This is the "extraordinary and valid for 6 months" proposal that the EU Commission is delivering to the European Council as a new measure against the "hybrid attack" of Belarus.
The proposal provides for simplified national procedures for returns and an extension of the registration period for asylum applications to 4 weeks, instead of the general 10-day ceiling.
States will be able to decide "specific places" for the temporary stay of migrants.
"Eight thousand migrants have so far crossed the borders and are in reception centers in Lithuania, Poland or Latvia. Ten thousand migrants have arrived in Germany. Numbers are limited, it is not a migration crisis but a hybrid attack. The situation of these migrants needs our help. ", explains the Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson, underlining that the proposal for greater compliance does not derogate from European principles and is advanced on the basis of Article 78 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, which provides for extraordinary measures in favor of some Member States, which the Council must approve by qualified majority. The proposal provides that the State, in the border procedure,have up to 16 weeks to answer an asylum application unless you are able to assist an applicant with health problems. "We are not legalizing push-backs," Johansson stressed, answering one of the reporters' questions. (HANDLE).