Dear Colleagues, Honourable Members,
Thank you for this opportunity to present our latest Communications on Migration and on Schengen. We unfortunately have only one hour, but despite our tight agendas and the short notice of this discussion, I consider it essential to exchange views with you and I stand ready to come again and deepen our discussions on both these important issues.
On migration: we have come a long way, but much remains to be done. It is unfortunate that we needed a crisis in order to adopt and implement solidarity measures that this House has been always advocating for. But the important thing is to advance in a united way and now achieve sustainable migration management while completing our strategy. Any future crisis should find Europe better equipped. Important elements are still missing – and I’m referring here to the proposed reform of the Common European Asylum System, which was and remains our priority.
We must continue to work to save lives, protect children in migration, put in place safe and legal pathways to Europe, protect our external borders, clamp down on criminal smuggling networks and effectively return those who have no right to remain in the EU. We adopted last month a new set of proposals to fully deliver on the Agenda on Migration, with focus on 4 areas in particular:
The reform of the Common European Asylum System;
Enhancing legal pathways;
A more effective policy on returns; and
The external dimension: the Partnership Framework for Migration.
Reform of the Common European Asylum System
It is time to move from crisis management and ad hoc mechanisms – we urgently need a structural solution to the migration management challenges we face.
A future stable – and predictable – framework will have to strike the right balance between solidarity and responsibility, between effectiveness and fairness. I know that this Committee will vote next week on the report of Ms Wikström. As I have repeatedly said, I count on a strong Parliament mandate to send a signal to the Council. I would like to thank the rapporteur and the shadows of all political groups for their hard work, support and engagement on this important file. If so many political groups with Members coming from different European Countries with different approaches and experiences manage to agree on the priorities of the Dublin revision, the Council should be able too.
The Commission and I personally are ready to play our part and to be flexible, provided that these elements are respected and that no Member State is left alone.
In the meantime, progress needs to continue on all the other asylum reform proposals and Member States need to continue showing solidarity with Italy and Greece.
On Resettlement: It is our priority to enhance legal pathways
Resettlement should become the preferred way for refugees to receive protection. By enhancing the type and scale of safe and legal pathways, persons in need of protection will no longer have to rely on criminals and smugglers, and risk their lives to find protection in the EU.
That is why we made a proposal for a Union Resettlement Framework in July last year. I note the planned adoption of the LIBE report on the proposal tomorrow. I am ready to support the negotiations between the co-legislators to facilitate its swift adoption.
In the meantime, following on from the pledging exercise launched in July, the Commission put on the table a call for Member States to resettle at least 50,000 people in need of international protection by end of October 2019. We are supporting this call by making available half a billion EUR. We count on Member States to make ambitious pledges – I had some encouraging news already that I will be able to confirm after the JHA council this Friday.
Member States are encouraged to explore ways to establish private sponsorship schemes where the settlement and integration support for persons in need of protection, including related costs can be provided by private groups or civil society organisations. We have invited EASO to coordinate a pilot project on private sponsorship schemes with interested Member States.
On Legal migration: we are an ageing continent with skills shortages in certain key sectors of our economy, we must also open legal pathways for other migrants that Europe’s economy needs, in addition to our existing efforts to fully employ our own workforce. Economic migration is not and should not be irregular migration.
The Commission is ready in 2018 to coordinate specific economic migration pilot projects with selected third countries, and provide the related financial support, with those Member States that wish to engage, depending on their labour market needs.
In parallel, we also have to advance with the negotiations on the EU Blue Card, so that we can soon have a more ambitious and more attractive channel for highly-qualified and highly-skilled migrants. Again on this, I rely on the experience of the rapporteur, chairman Moraes, surrounded by an excellent team of shadow rapporteurs and equipped with a very strong mandate, to conduct these negotiations successfully. We cannot stay with the status quo.
We need a more effective policy on returns
A credible migration policy also means effectively returning people who do not have the right to stay on our territory. This requires more sustained efforts, both on the side of the EU as well as the Member States. The current situation, where more than half of return decisions are not implemented, undermines our asylum system and migration policy. In this context in particular, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency should play the role of a coordinating hub for our operational return efforts.
By combining efforts, the Union will have a stronger leverage on third countries to ensure their cooperation on readmission and return. The Commission is also ready to assess whether further additional steps may be needed in order to move towards a genuine and effective Common European Return System.
Return is one element to prevent irregular migration more effectively, but would not be enough without our work to advance and consolidate further Member States’ capacity to investigate the crime of smuggling, for which a timely and proactive information sharing is key.
This is why next year we will propose a common framework and clear mandates of staff posted in third countries through the revision of the Immigration Liaison Officers Regulation, also maximising the potential of the network of European Migration Liaison Officers who have been deployed in 12 priority countries so far.
But tackling crime without addressing the pull factors. We must obtain, at EU level, a better understanding of all other factors. The Commission will therefore consult Member States and other players, to better understand these factors and identify and collect best practices of disincentives. This will be done in cooperation with national and local authorities in addition to those responsible for migration management, such as social security, tax and other services dealing with third-country nationals.
At the same time, it is essential that Europe shows solidarity with Africa and tackles root causes of migration. 2.85 billion EUR have so far been made available by the EU Trust Fund for Africa for stability and addressing root causes of irregular migration and displaced persons to 26 countries in the Sahel region and Lake Chad, the Horn of Africa and the North of Africa.
The new External Investment Plan is also part of the EU’s contribution to these commitments. It is expected to trigger more than 44 billion EUR of investments in partner countries in Africa and the EU Neighbourhood region by 2020.
Stronger cooperation by third countries on all aspects of migration is needed, including the acceptance of readmissions of their nationals irregularly staying in the EU. Practical arrangements on return and readmission have been finalised with some key countries of origin, while others are currently being negotiated.
Now, on Schengen. I will not repeat here how important Schengen for our European Integration is, it’s a position we all share.
We have proposed to further adapt Schengen to the challenges Europe is facing – and to make it stronger.
We proposed a targeted amendment to the Schengen Borders Code, concerning the temporary reintroduction of border control at internal borders in case Member States face a serious threat to public policy or internal security. So we proposed on the one hand to modify the time limits provided under the current rules while subjecting them to more rigorous oversight procedures. With these new elements we want to ensure that internal border control remain a measure of last resort and that neighbouring Member States are fully involved in order to limit as much as possible the impact to the freedom of movement, when such controls become necessary.
At the same time we adopted a Recommendation on how to better apply the current rules on temporary internal border controls. We want to make sure that, pending the discussion on the proposed amendment, the current provisions of the Schengen Borders Code are properly used. This recommendation translates our common interests and our solidarity between Member States.
I will stop here, ready to hear your remarks and questions in this first exchange of views.