A block of six EU countries -
Austria, Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany and the Netherlands - to which Switzerland has joined as a Schengen member
, has prepared a joint document expressing "concern" about the current state of the system common asylum in Europe and in particular the Dublin Treaty.
The countries underline that
"an improvement of the current system, with a view to sharing responsibilities, solidarity and sincere cooperation in the application of existing rules",
can lead to the creation of "common trust" to arrive at the "structural reform of the problem". which is needed.
"It is important that member states respect the current rules regarding the Dublin treaty, that's why today we will also discuss the internal dimension as well as the external one," said
Maria Malmer Stenergard, Swedish Minister for Migration, upon arriving at Brussels for the Internal Affairs Council.
"Regarding the Pact on Migration, we are doing everything possible to make the negotiations go forward: at the moment there is a constructive dialogue, our goal is to take decisions at the June European Council, it is ambitious but we are ambitious", she added .
For his part, Gérald Darmanin, French Interior Minister, underlined that "France believes that the functioning of the Dublin rules must be reviewed, we must simplify it enormously. The rules are in fact very complex. On the occasion of the Ocean Vicking crisis
I compared with my Italian colleague because Italy took 1 out of 10 people back and it is clear that on this point we need to improve,
for example through bilateral agreements between countries, which work, and I am thinking, for example, of the one between France and Germany. I will see next week with my Italian counterpart to continue this discussion".
"I'm not the only one who says that it is necessary to have a dialogue with Italy and ask it to honor the Dublin pact,"
said Elisabeth Baume-Schneider, Federal Councilor at Switzerland's Department of Justice and Police.
"The global issues of migration must be taken into consideration, also on the aspect of solidarity, but several European countries believe that everyone has a role to play and that Italy must play its part".