It is one of the most complex issues in the European Union. The management of immigration is a highly controversial issue that also draws inspiration from the far right. A little over a week ago, an agreement that would repeal a regulation that has been open since 2020 seemed close. But in recent days, while its government saw its national immigration law rejected in the National Assembly, France has toughened its position, several sources in the negotiations point out. Others mention that the problem lies in the limited room for maneuver of the EU Council, given the large differences between the twenty-seven, and that Paris had recalled that Spain, the country coordinating the talks, holds the bi-annual presidency of the Council. This complicates the attempt this Monday – the meeting is expected to continue on Tuesday – to conclude a pact that will certainly tighten reception conditions for migrants and asylum seekers.
The migration pact, which consists of five regulations that form a chain from the arrival of the asylum seeker in the community until his acceptance or rejection, has been stuck for years. The European Commission presented its proposal in 2020 and it was only in October that the EU Council was able to adopt a common position on the fifth regulation – the crisis situation regime – to make way for negotiations between the two EU legislators. The entire regulation regulates the reception of people seeking protection; It takes into account the concept of flexible, although compulsory, solidarity and stipulates that all partners undertake either a quota of asylum seekers or an economic or material contribution to the common basket. In addition, it establishes a new reception architecture in the municipal area and a special regulation for crisis cases.
On the negotiating table is the fact that this issue could become open in the European elections in June 2023 if the opportunity to close the migration pact settlement is not taken. In this case, there is a risk that a nuclear meeting with the ballot boxes would be great. One of the negotiators points out that the opportunity is now and that he does not believe that Belgium, the country that replaces Spain's rotating EU Council presidency in the first half, will take the lead by delaying the matter for a few weeks would . 2024 – the prospects would improve. On the contrary, it is likely that in the near future the prime minister of the Netherlands will be the far-right Geert Wilders, who won the parliamentary elections with a promise to stop “the migration tsunami”.
Hardening of posture
This will be Europe's umpteenth step towards a tougher stance on migration since the Commission's proposal was presented in September 2020. At this point in Italy, the ultra-Giorgia Meloni came to power with a tough speech. The same thing happened in Sweden and Finland. Germany has tightened its position without ballot boxes and despite a center-left government. And now France is turning to this position, even without voting, with Marine Le Pen's far right leading the polls.
In this context, it becomes more difficult to maintain the European Parliament's position. As another negotiator, the Spanish Socialist MEP Juan Fernando López Aguilar, emphasizes, the European Parliament is committed to defending guarantees and respecting international law. He points out that on the other side of the table the vision of security predominates, since it is the interior ministers who negotiate; Also those who are interested in “sending the message of rejection of irregular immigration and that any unauthorized migrant will be sent back to their country.”
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Now the final text of the law is being negotiated with the European Parliament, in which this institution demands that the rights of minors and their families be improved and that the legislation be formulated very clearly so that there are no loopholes that allow the criminalization of rescue NGOs Another point of friction has emerged: the reluctance from Paris, which four sources speak to this newspaper about. It is not a problem of many individual points – even if complaints about the treatment of minors and families are rampant – but rather a fundamental problem, emphasize diplomatic sources.
This obstacle adds to the fragility of the negotiating mandate that Spain has. The complexity of the balance sheets between the twenty-seven left little room for discussion. Added to this is the changing national reality in each country, such as the French government's failure in the National Assembly last week.
The five regulations that are on the table: control and processing of migrant data, control of external borders, legal protection and the necessary resources, crisis management and, above all, the management and care of asylum seekers. The latter is capital, because in the current regulation this corresponds to the countries where the migrant first enters the EU, which puts countries like Spain, Italy or Greece in the front row. Now solidarity and coercive distribution measures are being added, which means that there will be redistribution quotas for asylum seekers or the payment of 20,000 euros per person in the event that a state refuses to pay its share. This is one of the key points of the pact, which is based on the concept of “flexible but binding solidarity”.
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