Ministers agree warning mechanism for migration surges
Greek asylum situation “still worrying”, say ministers.
European Union home affairs ministers have agreed to develop an early-warning system for migration emergencies as part of a set of measures to strengthen solidarity among member states. At a meeting in Brussels today (8 March), the ministers decided to set up a mechanism for early warning, preparedness and crisis management that would help individual member states cope with sudden increases in the number of asylum-seekers.
The decision is the result of a compromise between the member states and the European Commission. Cecilia Malmström, the European commissioner for home affairs, had proposed the possibility of suspending, in an emergency, a provision in the EU’s Dublin II regulation that allows member states to send asylum-seekers back to the member state through which they entered the EU.
The mechanism is one element in the revision of the Dublin regulation, itself part of the launch of a common European asylum system, which is supposed to take place by the end of the year. Malmström said that progress had been made in talks with MEPs, whose backing is required for the asylum package to take effect.
Malmström last year proposed the option of suspending parts of the Dublin regulation as a last resort to relieve pressure on countries that experience a spike in migration, but the idea found little support from the member states.
Malmström presented the ministers today with a report on problems with Greece’s asylum system, which is in disarray. Greece is the point of entry of an estimated 80% of illegal immigrants in the EU.
“The report shows that the overall situation remains worrying,” Malmström said after the meeting. “There is still a lot to be done. The main responsibility lies with Greece, and they need to do their job.”
Last year, member states suspended returns of asylum-seekers to Greece following a ruling by the European Court of Human Rights which found that the conditions in Greece violated their rights.
The home affairs ministers of Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden and the UK met ahead of today’s Council to draw up measures to combat illegal migration. Denmark, the current holder of the rotating presidency of the EU’s Council of Ministers, is preparing an action plan to tackle illegal migration.
“We see it as a constructive contribution to a major task of the Danish presidency,” Morten Bødskov, Denmark’s justice minister, said of the measures of the seven member states.
The ministers also discussed measures to strengthen the political oversight of, and co-operation within, the EU’s Schengen area of borderless travel.
Click Here: gold coast suns 2019 guernsey