The negotiators of the European
Parliament and the Council reached an agreement on Wednesday on the Migration
and Asylum Pact that will reform the common policy with greater control of the
external borders of the European Union and offer governments an ‘on-demand
solidarity’ to be avoided by the reception of some of the relocated migrants
with alternatives such as the payment of rejected transfer compensation.
“Successful. After years of
political stagnation, we have reached an agreement”, announced one of the MEPs
of the negotiating team, the Dutch Christian Democrat Jeroen Lenaers, early
this Wednesday, after an early morning of negotiation on the nine dossiers that
make up the Pact and covering the whole process, including the strengthening of
border control and identification of migrants until each file is resolved with
the granting of asylum or the expulsion decision.
The presidents of the European
Parliament, Roberta Metsola, and the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen,
agreed to point out the “historic” moment of the agreement that puts an end to
years of tensions between the EU countries themselves -since the so-called ‘refugee
crisis’ of 2015- and arrives in the time to complete its processing before the
June European elections, a deadline that was on negotiators to prevent its
development from being affected by the electoral campaign and the advance of
the far right.
“It is a human approach, just with
those seeking protection, firm with those who are not eligible and firm with those
who exploit the most vulnerable”, Metsola said at a press conference at the end
of the negotiations, accompanied by the Euro MPs.
The Commissioner for the interior,
the socialist Ylva Johansson, and the community vice president in charge of
migration, the ‘popular’ Margaritis Schinas, architects of the proposal presented
in 2020 as the basis for negotiation, have also applauded the milestone achieved.
“We have agreed on a comprehensive pact with better protection of he external
border, more solidarity and better protection of the vulnerable, based on EU
values”, Johansson said.
The new rules, which still need the
approval of the plenary of the Eurocamera and the 27 to be formally adopted,
put an end to years of hard negotiations between the Member States themselves
to agree on a balance between “solidarity” with frontline countries, such as
Spain and Italy, and the “responsibility” they call on these other partners in
fear of secondary movements.
Finally, the solution is a mechanism
of “flexible solidarity” that will force the 27 to respond to a partner overwhelmed
with the arrival of migrants, or by relocating in their territory some of the
people arriving, either paying compensation valued for each migrant who
rejects.
The aim is to transfer at least 30,00
migrants each year, but countries will be able to refuse to receive some of
those in return for compensation 20,000 euros for each rejected transfer or of
means or funds of equivalent value.
