The EU members are trying to pull themselves together at the meeting in Granada – especially on the controversial issues of migration and EU enlargement. But Poland and Hungary remain stumbling blocks on the way to possible compromises.
Déjà vu in Granada: At this EU summit, Poland and Hungary are also against the majority of the member states when it comes to migration policy. It is uncertain whether both countries support the joint final declaration on this point. They are opposing the planned asylum reform, which the majority of EU governments agreed on at the beginning of June.
This provides for asylum applications from migrants with foreseeable low chances of recognition to be examined at the EU’s external borders and rejected applicants to be sent back more quickly to countries of origin and transit. EU states where particularly large numbers of asylum seekers arrive should be relieved.
This week, EU governments approved the final element of the planned package – against the votes of Warsaw and Budapest. Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban complained: “Poland and Hungary were not happy with the proposal, but they pushed us. We were completely left out.” Now there is no longer any chance “for any compromise on migration,” Orban further criticized: “That is politically impossible – neither today nor in the coming years. We are being raped in the legal sense.”
Poland persecuted domestic political Goals
Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki openly revealed that he was pursuing domestic political motives in the migration debate. Poland will elect a new parliament the weekend after next, and Warsaw will allow citizens to vote on the EU asylum compromise at the same time. In Granada, the Polish head of government sharply attacks opposition leader Donald Tusk:
Everyone here admits that Tusk’s party supports the asylum pact. If his party comes to power, irregular migrants will be distributed between different countries. Poland is firmly opposed to this and I have told many heads of government this. And interestingly, many agree with me – they are afraid of the dictates from Brussels and Berlin. We are not afraid of it.
Scholz bangs on Capacity to act a larger EU
Italy’s head of government, Georgia Meloni, is also dissatisfied: before the summit, she complained that Germany was supporting private sea rescue teams in the Mediterranean, which was putting additional strain on her country. Meloni met with Chancellor Olaf Scholz on the sidelines of the summit. He welcomed the fact that the EU was starting to discuss a fundamental question in Granada: Who are we and if so – how many?
The Chancellor once again spoke out in favor of expanding the EU – to include the Western Balkan states, Moldova and Ukraine. However, the prerequisite is that the EU makes itself fit for the future and simplifies decisions in foreign and tax policy, for example. “We must then be able to make decisions with qualified majorities so that the sovereignty and ability of the European Union to act is guaranteed,” warned Scholz and added: “Citizens also expect us to solve problems and be able to act externally. That is something we then have to ensure.”
Hungary is also skeptical about joining Ukraine
EU Council President Charles Michel speaks of the starting point of a longer debate. EU enlargement means that the candidate countries have to implement reforms, he emphasized: “They know what they have to do – and we have to prepare on the EU side. This is the first time in many years that we are at the highest level debate such a crucial question.”
Hungary’s Prime Minister Orban also takes a stand on the issue of expansion. At least when it comes to starting accession talks with Ukraine. Orban explained that it must first be clarified what this means for agriculture, security and the distribution of funding in the community. In addition, the EU has never accepted a country that is at war.