Following the recent tragedies in the Mediterranean (10,000 migrants could die this year), a political consensus has formed in the European Parliament and the European Council to mobilize all existing efforts and tools to take immediate initiatives and actions to be undertaken over the next few years to better manage migrations in all their aspects.
Yesterday, the Commission presented the concrete actions it will undertake, notably tripling the available capacities and resources in 2015 and 2016 for Frontex’s joint operations Triton and Poseidon. A new operational plan for Triton will be presented by the end of May.
It is also foreseen, within the framework of the common security and defense policy (CSDP), a potential operation in the Mediterranean to dismantle smuggler networks and combat migrant trafficking, in compliance with international law.
By the end of May, the Commission will propose a temporary mechanism for distributing in the EU those who clearly need international protection. A proposal for a permanent European relocation regime in urgent situations of massive inflows will be presented later, by the end of 2015.
Moreover, a proposal by the end of May for a Union-wide resettlement program to offer 20,000 places, distributed among all Member States.
The agenda adopted by the Commission must now be approved by the European Council and the European Parliament.
If the European Commission now has a formalized agenda and it is supported by Germany, France, and Italy, it does not please either the United Kingdom or Hungary, who are opposed to this logic of solidarity.
These two countries are hostile to the main measure: establishing quotas for the distribution of asylum seekers among Member States, determined based on population, unemployment rate, and GDP.
Theresa May, reappointed as Home Secretary by David Cameron after his election victory, summarized her conservative government’s viewpoint: “Migrants attempting to reach the European Union by crossing the Mediterranean should be returned.” For a former colonialist country that still associates with its former colonies in the Commonwealth…nothing could be simpler and easier!
The conservative Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orban, also denounced the quotas, which he called “madness.” He too quickly forgot the emigration of his compatriots, particularly in 1948 and 1956 during revolts against the communist regime, and the several million Hungarians in the diaspora!
The debate on a common immigration policy promises to be difficult.
