European Parliament to Launch Negotiations on Asylum Reforms
The European Parliament is seeking to launch negotiations on key asylum reforms with member states as early as next week.
Breakthrough Agreement
The demand follows Thursday’s (8 June) breakthrough political agreement in Luxembourg among EU interior ministers, paving the way for the co-legislatures to enter talks along with the European Commission in the hope of reaching a formal agreement on the overall reforms early next year.
Migration Management Regulation
Tomas Tobe, a Swedish-centre right MEP, is spearheading the asylum and migration management regulation on behalf of the European Parliament. The regulation deals with the politically-charged issues of solidarity and responsibility, including relocations whereby arriving asylum seekers would be distributed across EU states on a voluntary basis.
Novelties from Luxembourg Talks
Among some of the other novelties coming out of the Luxembourg talks are ideas for EU states to pay €20,000 for each person they don’t want to relocate. Although details still need to be thrashed out, the money would then be channelled into an EU body and possibly invested overseas.
EU interior ministers also proposed making it easier to send unwanted migrants to other third countries that they deem safe. Those sent to such countries must also either have family or have settled or stayed there in the past. But EU states can also determine other criteria, opening up the possibility of sending people to places like Tunisia for simply having transited it through it on their way to Europe.
Left-Leaning Political Factions
Left-leaning political factions, including the Greens, appeared less impressed with the deal. Green president, German Terry Reintke, said Thursday’s deal “goes against European values such as fundamental rights and respect for the rule of law.” And German socialist MEP, Birgit Sippel, said the parliament rejects compulsory fast-track procedures at the external borders.
Larger Reform on Asylum and Migration
The two files agreed on Thursday are part of a much larger reform on asylum and migration. Other proposals are already under inter-institutional negotiations, including a regulation on a pre-entry screening process for almost anyone arriving at an EU border irregularly. Talks have also already started on the Eurodac regulation that lays out rules on the collection and sharing of biometric data.
Externalisation of Migration
Meanwhile, the momentum of reinforcing the externalisation of migration continues to gain pace. In April, EU migration commissioner Ylva Johansson travelled to Tunisia to secure a deal to stop migrants from taking boats to cross the Mediterranean Sea towards Italy.
On Sunday, Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, will also be heading to Tunisia, along with Italy’s prime minister Giorgia Meloni and Mark Rutte, the prime minister of the Netherlands. Some 47,000 migrants arrived from Tunisia to Italy in the first five months of this year, compared to around 18,000 last year. Meloni has since praised Tunisia for reducing those numbers in May.
At the same time, the number of documented deaths or people missing in the central Mediterranean continues to increase, at over 1,000 so far this year alone. In comparison, some 1,400 went missing or died throughout the whole of last year along the same route, according to the International Organisation for Migration.
