5
biggest migration headaches
EU
leaders are determined to show progress on refugees, but old problems
persist and new ones keep arising.
By JACOPO BARIGAZZI
2/18/16, 5:30 AM CET
After seven summits
devoted to the issue in less than a year, expectations are low that
EU leaders will work any miracles this week on a migration crisis
that has tested European values, shaken alliances, erected razor-wire
fences and reinstated border controls in the passport-free Schengen
zone.
The stakes are high,
and getting higher, with leaders again warning that the European
project is at risk of collapse. Problems that have plagued the EU’s
migration strategy from the beginning — notably, reluctance to
accept refugee quotas — refuse to go away. Others have arisen,
including concerns that Greece’s inability to control its borders
will mean the end of Schengen.
But EU leaders are
determined to show that progress is being made. The buzzword is
“implementation” — getting countries to deliver on what they
have reluctantly promised.
Here are five of the
hottest migration issues on the summit agenda:
Turkey
The EU invested a
lot of political and financial capital to enable Turkey to stem the
flow of refugees to Europe. Its cooperation is key, but the return on
the investment so far has been poor.
The European
Commission says the number of people entering the EU illegally has
been in steady decline since October, although more than expected are
still crossing the Mediterranean from Turkey to the Greek islands
despite harsh winter weather. There is a contentious proposal that
Syrian refugees could be sent back from Greece to Turkey to have
their asylum claims processed. Turkey’s ambassador to the EU, Selim
Yenel, called the idea “dangerous.”
While progress on
hotspots is slow, the relocation scheme has not even got off the
ground.
“This destroys the
readmission agreement, the understanding behind it and it would
jeopardise the action plan,” Yenel said, referring to the EU-Turkey
Readmission Agreement that the Commission is pushing Ankara to
implement, starting in June.
Talks with Turkey
were dealt a blow Wednesday evening when Prime Minister Ahmet
Davutoğlu cancelled a trip to Brussels for migration talks after a
deadly car bomb attack in Ankara.
Primer minister of
Poland, Beata Szydło; PM of Hungary, Viktor Orbán; PM of the Czech
Republic, Bohuslav Sobotka; and PM of Slovakia, Robert Fico, prior to
the V4 summit
Schengen
The Council last
week introduced a procedure allowing countries that have reintroduced
internal border controls to extend them for up to two years. Germany
and Austria, which resumed border checks in September, will be the
first up for extensions if the flow continues northward from Greece
along the Western Balkan route.
The Council came up
with 50 recommendations to help Athens manage its borders. Greece was
given a month to form an action plan and three months to implement
it. Officials insist the tight deadlines are not intended to punish
Greece, but to allow countries to extend border controls if the
situation has not improved.
Hotspots and
relocation
Greece is trying.
Government officials have come to Brussels with “four-and-a-half
hotspots [out of five] fully operational,” according to Nikos
Xydakis, the Greek minister for European affairs. The hotspot on the
island of Kos still needs a few weeks before completion, he added,
due to local opposition. In Italy, only two out of six are up and
running, the Commission said last week, criticising Rome for its slow
progress. So far Lampedusa and Pozzallo are functional, and Taranto
“will be open February 28,” said Mario Morcone, head of the
migration department at the interior ministry. Italy and Greece were
expected to have 11 functioning hotspots in November.
“The fear many
people have in Turkey is that Europe will choose the best and
brightest and leave the rest to us” — Selim Yenel, Turkey’s
ambassador to the EU.
While progress on
hotspots is slow, the relocation scheme has not even got off the
ground. Out of 160,000 people to be relocated, only 497 refugees have
moved from Italy and Greece to host countries around the EU.
EU coast guard
Two days before the
last EU summit in December the Commission put forward a proposal to
set up a European border and coast guard body. EU leaders agreed, in
principle, though not all saw a need for a multinational naval force.
Spaniards said they are quite satisfied with their own navy, and
Greeks raised sovereignty concerns about a clause allowing the
Commission to send in border guards even if a country objects.
The deadline is July
and there are urgent calls for work on the agreement to be
accelerated. Home affairs and justice ministers have been meeting
once a month and diplomats say that, with some changes, a deal could
be struck by the summer. However, it will take time for the coast
guard to be fully operational, diplomats say.
Resettlement, again
Dutch Labour Party
leader Diederik Samsom proposed that refugees could be sent to Turkey
while they wait for the application process. He also proposed a
resettlement of 250,000 refugees from Turkey to EU countries willing
to accept them. Turkey opposes the idea of taking back refugees.
Ankara also complains about the slow pace of resettlement. “The
fear many people have in Turkey is that Europe will choose the best
and brightest and leave the rest to us,” said Selim Yenel, Turkey’s
ambassador to the EU.
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