In Brussels, a tug-of-war is raging between Parliament and the EU Council over the new regulation, which is intended to help deal with migration crises like that in Lampedusa. MEPs decided to withdraw from negotiations on two other important dossiers of the Community reform of asylum and reception rules (the European database of asylum applications Eurodac and the verification of arrivals) in protest at the stalemate between EU governments on the “regulation on crisis situations and force majeure in the area of migration and asylum. This is a provision that is part of the new Pact on Migration and Asylum package presented by the European Commission in September 2020 and which is currently being negotiated.
Mandatory solidarity measures and relocations: the lack of regulation
This regulation is the only one that has not yet received the green light from the EU Council, which represents the governments of the member states. Instead, the European Parliament adopted its position in April. The regulation in question would come into force to deal with “exceptional situations of massive influxes” of irregular migrants. The Commission would have the power to declare a state of crisis, thereby launching a range of accelerated procedures to deal with it, including mandatory solidarity measures such as the relocation of people who have entered illegally in other Member States, as well as exemptions from screening and asylum procedures.
What (specifically) changes with the new agreement on migrants
“The situation in Lampedusa underlines the urgent need for an EU crisis instrument that includes solidarity measures with first arrival countries. The standstill in the Council in the legislative work related to crisis regulation is therefore truly regrettable,” denounced the Dutch MP Sophie in ‘t Veld, coordinator of the liberal group “Renew Europe” in the Interior Committee and member of the “Asylum” contact group, the group, which is made up of the rapporteurs of all proposals in the Asylum and Migration Pact.
Today at Coreper II, the forum where the ambassadors of EU member states meet on behalf of governments, an attempt was made to find a solution, but without success, and so the ball is likely to pass directly into the hands of the ministers could include a discussion on this issue at the next meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council, scheduled for 28 September.
The Crisis Regulation provides rules for dealing with three types of exceptional situations: when faced with a much higher number of landings or border crossings than normal, exceptional events such as a pandemic or “exploitation” of migrants, that is, the artificial creation occurs of crises, as happened in the past, for example, when Alexander Lukashenko’s Belarus targeted migrants into Europe. This arrangement would be useful for Italy to deal with emergencies like that of Lampedusa, where the island was swamped by thousands of landings last week, but above all the two main allies of Giorgia Meloni’s government are blocking the negotiations: Poland of Mateusz Morawiecki and Hungary Viktor Orban, who has always been against the resettlement of migrants, including refugees who have already received the right to asylum.
Meloni’s allies
These two countries are against the entire new migration pact, but their opposition has so far been overcome by the decision to proceed by majority in the EU Council rather than by unanimity as was previously the case. However, in this latest battle they apparently found two powerful (and unexpected) allies: Germany and the Netherlands, albeit for different reasons. The governments of Berlin and Amsterdam support the regulation, but not the part on exploitation, which was inserted by the rotating Spanish EU Presidency to bring about mediation with Warsaw and Budapest, as this is their wish (Poland is the country that which pushed migrants the most (Belarus in November 2021). But in reality, Madrid’s move seems to have complicated things that contributed to the stalemate.
“Giorgia Meloni is now knocking on the door of the sovereign allies who govern Poland and Hungary and are blocking the approval of the crisis settlement in the Council,” explained Tiziana Beghin, head of delegation of the 5 Star Movement in Europe. The Parliament recalled that “this provision “is of fundamental importance for Italy as it provides for the relocation of migrants to other countries in the event of mass arrivals”.
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