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It is time to manage migration together, with a new balance between responsibility and solidarity. The old management system no longer works. This is a new beginning for the EU. Today we propose a European solution to restore trust between Member States and restore citizens’ confidence in our ability to manage as a Union. In a speech of just over 4 minutes in length, the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, launched the new and highly anticipated pact on asylum and migration. There are many interests to balance. Europe must abandon ad hoc solutions. This complex package reflects a reasonable balance: we all share the benefits, we all share the burden. The EU has already demonstrated in other areas its ability to take extraordinary measures to reconcile divergent perspectives. The time has come to set ourselves the challenge of managing migration together, with a new balance between solidarity and responsibility.
The plan was then presented in detail by Vice President Margaritis Schinas and EU Commissioner Ylva Johansson. It does not provide for compulsory transfers of immigrants landed on the EU coasts to other EU countries, as requested by the Italian government. The EU executive has developed a strategy, which is now being considered by the European Parliament, based on three pillars.
Pre-entry screening
The Commission proposes to first introduce an integrated border procedure, which for the first time includes a pre-entry control that covers the identification of all persons who cross the EU’s external borders without authorization or who have been disembarked after a search operation and rescue, read a note. This will also involve a health and safety control, fingerprinting and registration in the Eurodac database, already provided for by current regulations. After selection, migrants will be able to be treated with the appropriate procedure, both at the border for certain categories and as part of a normal asylum procedure for those who apply for refugee status. The goal of making quick decisions on asylum or return, the Commission promises. All other procedures will be improved and subject to increased monitoring and operational support from EU agencies, which will also use a digital infrastructure to monitor applications.
Mandatory solidarity: relocation or repatriation financing
The second pillar of the new pact questions individual EU states. The latter will be required to act responsibly and in solidarity with each other, as already established by the EU Treaties. All Member States, without exception, must act in solidarity in times of stress, underlines the Commission, to help stabilize the overall system, support Member States under pressure and ensure that the Union meets its humanitarian obligations. In relation to the different situations in the Member States and the pressure of migratory flows, the Commission proposes a flexible contribution system from Member States who can open the doors to relocation of asylum seekers from the country of first entry, but also taking charge of the repatriation of persons without the right of residence or offer various forms of operational support. Therefore, the new system, like the existing one, is based on voluntary forms of support, but in times of pressure on the different Member States, more stringent contributions will be required, based on a safety net. The latter will be based on a solidarity mechanism that will cover the disembarkation of people after search and rescue operations, pressure, crisis situations or other specific circumstances.
Associations with non-EU countries
The third pillar is that of partnerships with non-EU countries. These will help address shared challenges such as migrant smuggling, but will also develop legal entry routes to EU countries and ensure the effective implementation of repatriation agreements and arrangements. The EU and its member states will act together using a wide range of tools to support cooperation with third countries on return. The Commission also aims to strengthen external border control with the Permanent Corps of the European Border and Coast Guard, whose activities are scheduled to start on January 1, 2021.
The Commission’s plan will now have to be approved by the Member States and should replace the Dublin regulation, which has been harshly criticized for years because it imposes the first country of arrival criterion to decide which states should deal with identification and especially asylum. that comes from another continent. Since 2015, migratory pressures have generated great tensions in the management of these flows between European countries, divided between those that asked for greater solidarity (including Italy, which wanted mandatory relocations) and those that did not accept any redistribution.
September 23, 2020 (change September 23, 2020 | 13:25)
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