The Greek island of Lesbos has been hit hard by high numbers of refugees
Credit: Ayhan Mehmet/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images
EU countries can pay for migrants to be returned from Europe instead of taking in refugees, under European Commission plans to overhaul the bloc’s migration policy launched on Wednesday.
The olive branch to the hardline Eastern European states is designed to break a years-long deadlock over reforms but was criticised by campaigners as “bowing” to anti-migrant governments.
“In its attempt to reach consensus, the Commission has bowed to pressure from EU governments whose only objective is to decrease the number of people granted protection in Europe,” said Marissa Ryan, head of Oxfam’s EU office.
“No one’s concerns are more legitimate than the others, they all deserve to be recognised, acknowledged and addressed,” said Margaritis Schinas, the Commission Vice-President, at a press conference in Brussels.
After the 2015 migration crisis, the European Commission introduced a mandatory quota system for relocating successful asylum seekers across the bloc from the hardest hit member states such as Italy and Greece.
Poland, the Czech Republic and Hungary refused to take in their share of refugees, which led to the Commission taking legal action against them in the European Court of Justice.
The Commission said the new plans did away with mandatory quotas. Instead EU member states could make a choice between relocating refugees or “return sponsorship” in times of crisis.
If a country is subject to migratory "pressure", and believes that it cannot take care of migrants, it can request the activation of a "compulsory solidarity mechanism" by the Commission. All states will then be called upon to contribute, according to their economic weight and population.
Margaritas Schinas
Credit: STEPHANIE LECOCQ/POOL/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock
“There will be quotas, but you can choose whether you will contribute to your quota via relocation, or return sponsorship or a mix of those,” said Ylva Johansson, the EU Commissioner for Home Affairs.
A country would take financial and political responsibility for ensuring a number of illegal migrants were returned home and have eight months to do it. But if an EU country fails to return migrants to their country of origin within eight months, it must take them in.
Such “flexible contributions” to “permanent solidarity” echo a 2016 proposal by anti-migrant countries for “flexible solidarity” but the commission insisted the proposals were “entirely new” and denied any influence.
On average every year there are about 370,000 rejected asylum applications in the EU but only about a third of people ordered to return from member states actually leave, the commission said.
EU governments would also be encouraged to make voluntary payments and operational support.
The Commission said it also wanted to introduce a system where everyone crossing the EU’s borders without permission or was rescued at sea would be fingerprinted, given a health and security check, and registered in an EU-wide database. This would speed up asylum decisions and returns.
Migrants coming from countries with a lower than 20 per cent positive response rate to asylum applications, such as Tunisia or Morocco, will be processed at the border and within 12 weeks, under the new plan.
1.82 million illegal border crossings were recorded at the EU’s borders in 2015 but by 2019, thanks in part to the EU’s deal with Turkey this had dropped to 142,000. There were 698,000 asylum applications in 2019 and the EU was hosting about 2.6 million refugees that year.
The Commission proposal will need to be agreed by the European Parliament and by the EU member states, who are at loggerheads over the issue.
At a glance | The seven branches of the European Union
On Tuesday, Austria’s Sebastian Kurz warned that “many states” would reject any EU effort to redistribute asylum seekers around the bloc.
“The EU has already proven in other areas that it can take extraordinary steps to reconcile diverging perspectives,” said Mrs von der Leyen.
In 2018, and despite far lower numbers of migrants, efforts to revamp the EU’s asylum and migration rules failed as deep divides between member states were exposed.
“The failure of the European Union to establish, to foster an agreement, is also very present with us. That’s why we need to start with everyone on board, and everyone around the table,” Mr Schinas said.
He said the commission was “withdrawing” the Dublin Regulation and “putting it to bed” in favour of the new proposal.
Under the Dublin rules, asylum claims must be processed by the migrant’s country of arrival. The rule has led to bitter squabbles between the southern coastal member states where seaborne migrants arrive, and wealthier northern countries where most prefer to head.
Northern member states wanted faster returns of migrants to Italy and Greece who had travelled to their countries after first landing there. Italy demanded more support from richer states and called for countries such as Hungary which refused to take in their quota of refugees to lose EU funding.
In the Commission’s proposal, the country responsible for the application could be the nation in which a migrant has a brother or sister or in which he or she has worked or studied. Any country that issued a visa to a migrant will have to take care of any asylum application. Otherwise, the country of arrival is still responsible.
A major fire earlier this month in Lesbos’ Moria camp, which underlined the dismal state of the system for housing refugees stuck on the Greek islands, has focused attention again on migrants in Europe.
But offers to rehouse the now homeless Moria refugees have come piecemeal, with some states like Austria refusing point blank to take any.
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