The EU could not again reach an agreement on migration

Ylva Johansson, member of the EU Commission responsible for Home Affairs, and Fernando Grande-Marlaska, Minister of the Interior of Spain, current President of the EU Council, made statements to the press after the meeting of the Ministers of the Interior of the EU. EU countries in Brussels.

The Spanish minister stated that the “Crisis Regulation”, which is the last element of the “Migration and Asylum Agreement” proposed by the EU Commission in 2020, was being debated, and stated that “we are almost at the finish line.” “There is only a difference around a nuance that concerns all member states.” he said.

“WE NEED TIME”

Marlaska emphasized that he would not name individual countries, saying, “We just need a little more time.” saying.

Johansson also stated: “There are no fundamental political obstacles.” He said he was confident that an agreement would be reached in the coming days.

Marlaska and Johansson stated that from now on the work will continue at the ambassador level.

REVOKED TO RESPOND

EU officials avoided answering journalists’ persistent questions about “what really happened at today’s meeting and what the attitudes of Italy and Germany were.”

Before the meeting, EU officials and ministers from member countries had expressed high hopes that an agreement would be reached today.

According to sources who attended the meeting, the reason for the lack of agreement was between Rome and Berlin; Germany’s proposal to support non-governmental organization (NGO) ships providing humanitarian aid and search and rescue services in the Mediterranean, and Italy’s opposition to this, claiming that it is “an attractive factor for migrants.”

TENSION ON THE ROME-BERLIN LINE

As Germany faced a migration crisis on the Italian island of Lampedusa, it suspended the agreement to accept refugees voluntarily due to the Roman administration’s failure to meet its obligations under the Dublin Convention.

Then, Germany, which made another decision that provoked a reaction from Italy, announced that it had decided to financially support NGOs rescuing irregular migrants in the Mediterranean.

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni sent a letter to her German counterpart Olaf Sholz on September 23, expressing “surprise” at this decision.

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock met today in Berlin to discuss this issue. Tajani said at the joint press conference: He said that saving human lives was important and that no one was against NGOs, but that his country should not become a “magnet that attracts illegal immigrants.”

Baerbock also confirmed that his country had included some points of the compromise during the intense negotiations held in the last hours at today’s meeting in Brussels.

EU COMMISSION PROPOSAL FOR “MIGRATION AND ASYLUM AGREEMENT”

Since the 2015 migration crisis, the EU has been searching for a solution on how to distribute asylum seekers among member states and how to return those whose asylum applications are rejected. The “Agreement on Migration and Asylum” prepared by the EU Commission for this purpose cannot be accepted due to the different attitudes of the member countries.

After France adopted a “step-by-step approach” to advancing the package during the EU presidency, ministers held their meeting on June 8 and 9, in accordance with the agreement’s “mandatory solidarity mechanism”, on the fair distribution of immigrants to EU countries, on a per capita basis for countries that do not accept immigrants, had agreed by qualified majority on rules requiring the host country to pay 20,000 euros.

The EU institutions want member states to reach an agreement as soon as possible, as elections to the European Parliament will be held in June 2024, months before the end of the current legislative year. Then three EU institutions to enact the new rules; Tripartite negotiations will take place between the Council, the Commission and Parliament. (AA)