EU’s Pact on Migration and Asylum | (dot)migration
(dot)migration | A space by EMILY TASINATO
On the heels of the fires that destroyed the Moira refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbo on 8 September, EU migration policy is one again under the spotlight. Since the 2015 refugee crisis, Bruxelles has grown in awareness of the need to adopt a more comprehensive European approach to migration by moving away from the so called “Dublin system”, which placed the responsibility for asylum claims on member State of first entry. The new Pact on Migration and Asylum presented by the president of the European Commission Ursula von der Leyen on 23 September is intended to streamline the challenge posed by this politically sensitive issue in a new pragmatic and realistic approach through primarily a new “compulsory but flexible” mechanism of solidarity between the 27 member states, with an emphasis on bureaucratic measures such as external border protection, new screening procedures, returns sponsorships, and partnerships with third countries[1]. The questions are as follows: is this EU’s migration Pact more a compromise than a real attempt both to solve the European migration crisis and to help the frontline members? Will be the humanitarian rescues be reinforced, or not?
In this special edition of the Global Conversation on 26 September dedicated to the pact proposal, Miriam Dalli, a Maltese MEP from the Socialists and Democrats Group, Balàzs Hidvéghi, an Hungarian MEP from the European People’s Party, and Oscar Camps, the Director of the NGO Proactive Open Arms express their views and concerns about this new EU’s proposal on migration. Here the video.
Some interesting sources:
- https://www.csis.org/analysis/deciphering-european-unions-new-pact-migration-and-asylum
- http://www.euvisions.eu/reforming-the-dublin-pact-and-activating-eu-solidarity-the-objectives-of-the-new-eu-pact-on-migration-and-asylum/
- https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/10/08/pact-migration-and-asylum
- https://blogs.eurac.edu/eureka/the-new-pact-on-migration-and-asylum-hardly-original-proposals/
- https://www.cidob.org/en/publications/publication_series/notes_internacionals/n1_135_por_que_dublin_no_funciona/why_dublin_doesn_t_work
[1] Donatienne Ruy, Erol Yayboke, “Deciphering the European Union’s New Pact on Migration and Asylum”, Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), 29 September 2020, https://www.csis.org/analysis/deciphering-european-unions-new-pact-migration-and-asylum