Dear friends,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Thank you for the opportunity to participate in this Press Seminar on creating a truly Common European Asylum System.
First, I wish to take a moment to express my solidarity with London and the United Kingdom, for the horrible attack that occurred this weekend.
I also wish to praise the London police and law enforcement authorities for their very quick and effective response.
Terrorism affects us all equally, and we should remain united and strong in our joint response.
This is the only way to effectively fight terrorism.
As we discuss asylum today, I also want to reiterate that we should not confuse terrorism and migration, or terrorists and asylum seekers.
We hear voices who do not wish to accept asylum seekers for reasons of security.
This is not acceptable.
These are people precisely fleeing terrorism, not creating it!
There have of course been cases, where we saw asylum seekers involved in security incidents. The Berlin attack is still very fresh in our memory. We need to be vigilant, and we are.
We cannot however accept the false rhetoric equating refugees with terrorists.
If we do, then we accept exactly the discourse and discord that terrorists wish to create in our societies.
Ladies and gentlemen,
As you know, one year ago the Commission put forward a complete set of proposals to reform our asylum system and create a genuine common asylum system that is future-proof, based on common rules and a fairer sharing of responsibility.
I believe that for this reform to be successful, we need to continue having an open and constructive conversation, not only with the legislators, but also with the public.
It is necessary to ensure that the concerns of our citizens and our communities are properly addressed throughout the decision-making process.
If anything has become clear in the past two years, it is that we need a European and even global approach on migration.
We have entered the era of human mobility. The question therefore is not how migration can be “stopped” but better managed.
The refugee crisis taught us that purely national measures do not bring satisfactory solutions – neither for any single Member State, nor for the European Union as a whole.
A fragmented, inward looking approach not only does not address the challenges to manage migration holistically, it also risks undermining the European project.
All Member States need to work together to address this challenge in a true spirit of solidarity and shared responsibility.
Whether it’s to improve return, fight smugglers or better protect our borders – no country can do this alone.
More Europe is needed: to protect the EU’s external borders; to allow our asylum system to offer protection for those in need; to dismantle and prosecute the smugglers’ networks; and to step up our capacity to return those who have no right to stay in the EU.
More Europe means applying a comprehensive approach to migration management.
More Europe does not mean taking away competences from Member States, as some might fear. More Europe means a better and joint management of what is a shared challenge.
Many important common actions have already been agreed and are now being implemented:
The hotspots approach;
The relocation and resettlement schemes;
The improved efforts to return irregular migrants and the increased cooperation with third-countries on readmission.
But these actions are not enough.
To complete our comprehensive approach to migration management, the reform of the Common European Asylum System is a necessary prerequisite.
If the refugee crisis of the past two years has shown one thing, it is that the status quo of our Common European Asylum System is not an option any more.
The structural weaknesses in our current system became evident with the crisis.
There are still significant differences between the Member States in: the types of asylum procedures used; the reception conditions provided to applicants; the recognition rates and the type of protection granted to beneficiaries of international protection.
These divergences contribute to secondary movements and asylum shopping, ultimately leading to an uneven distribution of responsibility among Member States to offer protection to those genuinely in need.
Therefore, we need a robust asylum system; a system based on solidarity and fair sharing of responsibilities.
But also a system which is crisis-resistant, while being fair.
We need European-level structures and tools for a future-proof comprehensive system, where no country is left to handle such challenges on its own.
To this end, we need to bring national asylum systems closer together. This would help strengthen mutual trust among Member States, but also reduce the incentive for asylum shopping or abuses amongst applicants.
Mutual trust is necessary not only for the efficiency of the system, but also to guarantee equal and dignified treatment of asylum applicants across the Union.
We propose to build into the system a number of elements which enhance European integration.
We do so by providing for: a high degree of harmonisation, greater convergence in the assessment of asylum applications across the Union; and a system of fair distribution of asylum seekers among Member States.
Our reform package proposes to have a system where the procedures and timelines are streamlined, where the rights of the applicants are adequately guaranteed throughout the procedure, and where the criteria for receiving international protection are further harmonised.
We want to make sure that applicants receive equal and adequate reception standards throughout the entire Union.
We also address the issue of secondary movements and abuse.
We do so by proposing to apply appropriate sanctions as regards the procedure and reception conditions where applicants do not comply with their obligations.
But the success of this reform depends fundamentally on solidarity.
Geography cannot be an indicator for responsibility.
We cannot leave a disproportionate burden to Member States who happen to be at the European Union’s external borders.
For us, this is an essential component and for that purpose we proposed to have a corrective allocation mechanism built in the new Dublin system.
To continue benefiting from a Europe without internal borders, we need a Dublin system that is clear, predictable and efficient – and fair. For this we need the commitment of Member States which must be translated into clear and binding legal rules.
This is why we propose that in future times of crisis, responsibility is shared and reattributed when one or more Member States become overburdened.
Our aim is also to discourage uncontrolled irregular movements, and to provide orderly and safe pathways to the EU.
This is why we are also proposing to have a Union framework on resettlement, which will establish a common approach to safe and legal avenues to the European Union for persons in need of international protection.
A Union framework on resettlement will reduce divergences among national practices.
It will also put the EU in a stronger position globally, enabling it to speak with one voice. This way, we can better convince our international partners to assume their share of responsibility.
Because the external and internal dimensions of migration management are intrinsically linked.
This is why we have stepped up our engagement with key third countries to address the root causes of migration, to improve conditions in countries of origin and transit, to fight smugglers, to improve returns, and to also enhance legal pathways.
This goes hand in hand with a reformed asylum system inside the European Union.
Therefore, to ensure the effectiveness of our actions, the time has come for Member States to show their political will to move forward with the reform of the Common European Asylum System and, in particular, the Dublin system.
Member States as well as Members of the Parliament have to ensure that the reform of the Common European Asylum System will be ambitious.
We have to make a decisive step forward in term of efficiency, convergence, fight against secondary movements and genuine solidarity.
We should support the incoming Estonian Presidency to continue the tireless efforts of the outgoing Maltese Presidency, to find a compromise with all Member States on a solidarity mechanism that will be predictable and will guarantee that no Member State is left alone.
We also count on the European Parliament to advance as much as possible on the different files.
Ladies and gentlemen,
We need to look at the migration phenomenon in a strategic, comprehensive and positive manner.
As I said earlier, mobility and migration are inherent to the world as we know it today.
We have to turn its challenges into opportunities.
In a true spirit of solidarity, it is up to all of us to turn migration into a European success story.
Thank you.