EU interior ministers on Thursday reached an agreement on two key aspects of a migration policy reform, 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 asylum applications of certain migrants at borders, in order to return them more easily to their countries of origin or transit.
One of the texts approved by the ministers provides for mandatory 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 who arrived in an EU country under migratory pressure, or failing to make a financial contribution.
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The financial compensation provided for is around €20,000 for each asylum seeker not relocated. These sums would be paid into a fund managed by the Commission to finance projects related to migration management.
The other text endorsed by the ministers obliges member states to implement an accelerated procedure for examining asylum applications - 12 weeks maximum - in border centres, for migrants who are statistically least likely to be granted refugee status. This is the case, for example, of nationals "of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Senegal, Bangladesh and Pakistan," commented the Belgian Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration, Nicole de Moor.
Migrants rejected to "safe" third countries
Italy and Greece, as well as other countries, demanded to be able to return rejected migrants to "safe" third countries through which they transited, even in the absence of other links (family, work...) between the migrant and this country. An idea that met with the hostility of Germany. The compromise provides that it is for the Member States to assess whether mere transit constitutes a sufficient link.
The German minister had demanded that "families with young children should not be subject to the border procedure". However, this provision, which was defended by a minority of Member States, appears only in an annex to the text.
French Minister Gerald Darmanin, who had to leave the meeting in the morning after the knife attack in Annecy, said that "everything 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 make the European Union live," he said.
Poland and Hungary voted against the proposals, while Bulgaria, Malta, Lithuania and Slovakia abstained, according to 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.
