This is an agreement obtained just before a summit of the Twenty-Seven on Friday in Spain. The ambassadors of EU countries agreed on Wednesday on a key text of the reform of European migration policy.
The regulation in question, which will still have to be the subject of negotiations with the European Parliament, is intended to organize a response in the event of a massive influx of migrants into an EU state. In particular, it provides for compulsory solidarity between member states and a possible extension of the duration of detention of migrants at the bloc’s external borders.
A text that spares Rome and Berlin
This text, the last piece of the EU’s “Asylum and Migration Pact”, encountered objections from Germany for several months, for humanitarian reasons. A compromise was found at the end of September to obtain the green light from Berlin, but Italy then expressed its disagreement with a provision on the role of NGOs rescuing migrants. Rome also criticizes Germany for financing several relief NGOs in the Mediterranean.
A formula was finally found to bring Italy and Germany together: the controversial provision was deleted from the body of the text, but retained in its preamble.
The divide with the countries of Central Europe
Austria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, however, abstained on the text, while Poland and Hungary opposed it, according to diplomatic sources. Budapest notably recalled its frank hostility, accusing Brussels of “encouraging immigration”.
The European Commission and Spain, which holds the biannual presidency of the Council of the EU, hoped for an agreement before the European summit which brings together the heads of state and government of the Twenty-Seven on Friday in Granada, and where the burning question migration will be at the heart of the discussions. The paralysis of this “crisis regulation” aroused frustration within the EU, faced with the increase in migrant arrivals, particularly on the island of Lampedusa.
Detention of up to 40 weeks
The text provides, in the event of a “massive” and “exceptional” influx, the establishment of an exceptional regime that is less protective for asylum seekers than the usual procedures. Its implementation must, however, be subject to authorization from the Member States. The agreement extends the possible duration of detention of a migrant at the EU’s external borders, up to 40 weeks, and allows faster and simplified asylum application examination procedures for a greater number of migrants. exiled in order to be able to send them back more easily.
It also provides for a rapid triggering of solidarity mechanisms towards the Member State faced with this influx, in particular in the form of relocation of asylum seekers or a financial contribution. The stated objective is to ratify this reform by the European elections next June.