“What’s at stake today is solidarity: towards migrants, between Member States but also with third countries. Let’s not forget that some countries in the Mediterranean host more refugees than European Member States have ever done”, said Henri Malosse, EESC President, in his welcome address to Dimitris Avramopoulos, Commissioner in charge of Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship at the EESC Plenary today. He added: “Faced with daily human tragedies, failure is not an option. The European Commission can count on the EESC to support its action, with civil society in the field. Concretely, EESC will be working with NGOs to help set up welcome centres across the Mediterranean. The European Economic and Social Committee and the European Commission stand as firm partners there.”
“I need the support of the EESC, which has always been at the forefront of solidarity in our common house: Europe” acknowledgedCommissioner Avramopoulos. “While we are living at a time of instability and Europe is seen as a refuge, it was high time for the European Commission to fulfil its role by taking action on the challenge of migration. And so we did by putting forward the European Agenda on Migration.”
Commissioner Avramopoulos explained that this agenda is not the one of the European Commission, but it is an agenda for the whole Europe. Recalling the first European Migration Forum, jointly held by the EESC and the Commission on 26-27 January 2015, he welcomed the engagement of organised civil society.
He then presented the European Agenda on Migration and the first implementing measures announced yesterday, such as the relocation and resettlement schemes and the action plan to fight migrant smugglers. On the proposed relocation scheme, Commissioner Avramopoulos added: “We believe it is a fair scheme, based on objective and quantifiable criteria. We propose a fair distribution of migrants in need of international protection: not the relocation of irregular migrants”.
Concluding the discussion, Commissioner Avramopoulos stated: “In 5 months, we shaped a new European migration policy. Solidarity is at the heart of this policy.”