Dear friends,
First of all, let me thank once again Jean Asselborn and the Luxembourgish Presidency for the consistently excellent work and cooperation in dealing with the ongoing refugee crisis.
Since the last Council meeting only a month ago and the Western Balkans’ route summit, important progress has been achieved – but we are not there yet.
Today we discussed the current state of play, and what remains to be done.
That is why you will see that the council conclusions are concise, operational and tangible, and this is exactly what we need right now.
I am pleased to see that Member States are making concrete commitments,
and I hope that they will be able to deliver them swiftly.
From the Commission’s side, we are stepping up our efforts on all fronts.
First of all, I informed the Ministers on the progress made on the implementation of the 17 point action plan that was agreed at the Western Balkans’ route summit. For example:
weekly Contact Point Video conferences are taking place and a monitoring system for the flows is already operational.
The deployment of 400 police officers to Slovenia is also underway.
So far, Member States pledged a total of 250 officers by mid-November, with 33 already deployed in the country, 40 officers on their way by the end of the week and further 177 within the next ten days.
Needs assessments by all concerned Member States will also be finalized in the coming days.
We are now counting on countries along the route to increase reception capacities to reach the 100,000 places.
The Integrated Political Crisis Response is making sure that we all share information on a consistent and regular basis. Today, I have briefed Member States on the second weekly report.
On the hotspot approach and the relocation system, we have made an important start.
The hotspots in Lampedusa is now in place . The others will follow.
We have already relocated the 147 asylum seekers from Italy and Greece.
But as I mentioned to the Ministers, this is not enough. It is time to shift gears and start delivering on all fronts.
On relocation, we need to move from the dozens to the hundreds if we want to make sure that this scheme will work properly.
And the rest of the hotspots still need to be implemented by the end of November.
In order to speed up the process, the Commission will deploy support officers to Greece and four to Italy in the coming days.
Member States must do all of these things in full respect of the EU asylum and return framework – as President Juncker said “no registration, no rights”.
We have presented a paper to Member States explaining the comprehensive set of EU legal instruments which are available to them in the areas of border control, asylum and return.
As you know, securing the EU’s external borders is one of the four pillars of the European Agenda on Migration.
We will do so by strengthening the role of Frontex and by developing EU-wide standards, and we will also table a proposal for a European Border and Coast Guard by the end of the year.
The swift and effective implementation of the Action Plan against migrant smuggling and cooperation with countries of origin and transit will be also essential.
Our ongoing evaluation of the Dublin system, and the results of the implementation of the relocation mechanisms will feed into the revision of the Dublin mechanism next Spring. But I also hope that we can move forward on the proposals for a structural relocation mechanism.
The Commission is also looking forward to further discussions with the Member States on the proposal for an EU list of safe countries of origin.
Dear friends,
The developments that we witnessed in recent weeks have once again clearly shown that no single country can solve the crisis alone.
That is also why this week’s summit in Valetta is so important: to enhance the collaboration with countries of origin and transit from Africa on international protection, readmission and return, migrant smuggling and legal migration channels.
I am happy to announce that in Valetta, the Commission, together with the Council, will sign a Joint Declaration for a Common Agenda on Migration and Mobility (CAMM) with Ethiopia – a key partner in this regard.
We need a strengthened comprehensive approach both inside and outside the European Union.
Now is the time for delivery on all fronts.