17/03/2011 Migration, International Protection and Economic Co-operation
Strasbourg, 17.03.2011 – EU member states have so far “failed the test of solidarity” when it comes to helping fellow member states facing huge numbers of irregular migrants and asylum seekers, a hearing of PACE’s Migration Committee in Brussels was told yesterday.
“If we are serious about building a common EU asylum system by the end of 2012, there needs to be solidarity to help member states who are under pressure – to live up to standards consistently and properly implement regulations,” said Cecilia Wikström, the European Parliament’s rapporteur on the Dublin Regulations, pointing to the challenges currently being faced by Greece, Italy and Malta.
The hearing, coming a day after discussions on the hosting and treatment of migrants in Europe by the Council of Europe Committee of Ministers, aimed to put the EU’s migration and asylum policy under the spotlight, in particular its human rights implications. “We are convinced that our experience and knowledge of these issues should be used by the EU in its own policies,” said the Chair of the Migration Committee, Christopher Chope (United Kingdom, EDG), opening the hearing.
Welcoming the recent ruling of the European Court of Human Rights in MSS vs. Belgium and Greece, Ms Wikström said that the asylum system in Greece, which is struggling to cope with 40-50,000 pending applications, had more or less collapsed. “But the situation in Greece is a failure for all of us”, she added, echoing earlier calls by PACE President Mevlut Cavusoglu for all of Europe to share responsibility for mass arrivals in southern Europe. Sweden had successfully dealt with similar numbers after the Balkan conflict, she pointed out, urging the Greek authorities to “pick up the phone and ask for European help”.
Rob Visser who heads EASO, a new EU body offering practical support to member states over asylum issues, said some help was on the way – a team had just been sent to Greece to work with the authorities on a detailed two-year plan to build a new asylum system.
At the hearing representatives of all three major EU institutions – the Presidency, Commission and Parliament – discussed the plan to create a common EU asylum system by the end of 2012, and outlined the hurdles faced.
Juan Fernando López Aguilar, the Chair of the European Parliament’s LIBE committee which deals with migration and asylum issues, said negotiations on the proposed system would be tough, but pledged: “A common asylum system for the EU will offer asylum seekers the same treatment wherever they lodge their application, but also the highest standards of protection.”
Muriel Guin, dealing with asylum for the European Commission, explained that there was opposition to the plan in some EU member states, but said a modified proposal due shortly would still “keep a high level of protection, and respect international human rights standards and European case-law”.
These contributions will feed into a report by Mr Chope on “Asylum seekers and refugees: sharing responsibilities in Europe” as well as a report by Arcadio Díaz Tejera (Spain, SOC) on “The interception and rescue at sea of asylum seekers, refugees and irregular migrants”.
A day earlier, the committee decided to request a current affairs debate at the next plenary session of PACE on future mass flows of migrants and asylum seekers from North Africa.