BRUSSELS - One of the key principles on which the 27 EU member states are working to reach an agreement on the new Pact for Migration is to establish a formula - calculated on the basis of objective and shared data - to define the "adequate capacity" of each country in hosting migrants (and the related application of identification "border procedures"). This dynamic mechanism, which would take into account the flows of entry and exit, would be accompanied by "an annual ceiling". Quotas and thresholds would be functional to trigger the interventions of "mandatory solidarity" by other States.
The principle - diplomatic sources underline - is still "the subject of discussion" at the negotiating tables and is part of the working method agreed among the 27 according to which "nothing is decided until everything is decided". Also because the Pact on Migration is a very complex mosaic composed of various pieces of legislation, such as directives, recommendations and regulations. A draft mediation proposed by the presidency - which ANSA has seen - clearly indicates that it is necessary to "further refine the balance between solidarity and responsibility" and that "the particular geographical position of the border Member States must be taken into account".
In any case, the text excludes that relocations will ever be made "mandatory", although they are included among the solidarity measures together with the "financial contributions" and unspecified "other interventions". As the Swedish Presidency has already pointed out, work is being done to make the 'principle of solidarity' compulsory and not one measure in favour of another. The negotiations - specifies a diplomatic source - are proceeding closely to arrive at the next Internal Affairs Council - scheduled for June 8 in Luxembourg - with a position as shared as possible, in order to achieve the objective of closing the Council's negotiating mandate and being able to start the trilogue with the Commission and Parliament, at least on the part concerning the management of asylum and migration.
"The principle on which the negotiations on the new Compact for Migration are currently based is that EU member states must support countries of first entry but the forms of this support may vary and relocation will not be mandatory." A spokesman for the European Commission reiterated this morning. In other words, as the Swedish Presidency made clear yesterday, the 'principle of solidarity' will be mandatory.
