EU asylum talks end in weak compromise

Source: By Nikolaj Nielsen – EU Observer, 15/09/2015

Ministers in Brussels on Monday (14 September) failed to reach a
unanimous decision on whether to back a European Commission plan to
relocate 120,000 asylum seekers.


Instead they opted for a weakened political agreement following stern
opposition from Hungary, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, and Romania.
An EU source said Poland was lukewarm. Latvia, which did not send a
minister to the round table meeting, is also said to be against.


"We were hoping for something stronger", said the source.


Luxembourg's foreign minster Jean Asselborn, who presided the meeting,
told reporters, "not everyone is on board."


'Willingness'
To add to the confusion, the Luxembourg EU presidency conclusion
states "all member states confirm their willingness to participate" in
the relocation scheme.


A second EU source said the French had convinced others that
"willingness" is the equivalent to "voluntary".


The source said the statement was not misleading because it is a EU
presidency conclusion, which carries much less weight than standard
Council conclusions.


The weakened pact follows the drowning deaths of some 15 children and
babies off the Greek island of Farmakonisi on Sunday.


But Asselborn said it was "too early for a decision to be taken today"
on how to help the thousands of people risking their lives to enter
the EU.


He said the Commission`s plan is "a basis for an agreement" to be
adopted in October.


"Procedures must be respected", he added.
The next step is to start discussions at the working group level in
the Council, representing member states.
The plan is to have the details sorted so a formal decision can be
made at a justice and home affairs meeting in Luxembourg on 8 October.



But another meeting of ministers may be called before the end of the
month following a flurry of moves to clamp down on borders by a
handful of member states.


Majority
Germany on Sunday imposed border controls with Austria, sparking
similar moves by Austria, Slovakia, and Poland. The Netherlands said
it would not follow Germany`s lead but would step up border police
checks.


"This council allowed to make progress, a qualified majority emerged
on the main principles that we wanted to apply," French interior
minister Bernard Cazeneuve said after the meeting.


But EU officials are hoping to avoid a qualified majority vote to push
the commission relocation proposal through the deadlock. Forcing a
member state to accept people it does not want could create a host of
other problems, noted one EU official.


Meanwhile, they adopted an initial commission plan to relocate 40,000
from Greece and Italy over a two-year period. Ministers in July came
up short with around 32,000 but agreed to fulfill the remainder
pledges before the end of the year.


The long debate on relocation was underpinned by other agreements to
toughen external border controls and set in motion a stronger return
policy to expel anyone with no rights to reside in the EU.


"We need to make sure our external borders are better protected", said
EU commission vice-president Frans Timmermans.


Camps
Special centres to quarantine new arrivals will be set up in Greece
where people will be fingerprinted, identified, and registered. Anyone
who doesn`t meet requirements for international protection could be
detained until sent home.


The EU border agency, Frontex, will have a more active role in
removing people.


The plan also includes setting up a so-called EU country of safe
origin list. The list, set to include Western Balkan countries, would
allow member states to more quickly dispatch rejected asylum
seekers.


Asselborn said Turkey would not be on the list.


They also agreed to step up funding for Syrian refugee camps run by
United Nations high commissioner for refugees (UNCHR).


Some 4 million Syrians live in the camps. More than half are in Egypt,
Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon. Turkey hosts 1.9 million Syrians and another
24,000 are registered in North Africa.


The extra funding will come from the EU budget and member states.
"The crisis will last as long as our neighbourhood is on fire", said
EU commissioner for migration Dimitris Avramopoulos.