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Novas
tensões inviabilizam plano de acção europeu para refugiados
RITA SIZA 18/02/2016
- PÚBLICO
Líderes
da União Europeia continuam sem se entender quanto à entrada e
recolocação de refugiados.
A Europa demonstrou
mais uma vez, esta quinta-feira, a sua incapacidade para ultrapassar
as profundas divisões sobre a gestão de fronteiras e fluxos
migratórios e concertar uma resposta colectiva à crise de
refugiados que ameaça tornar-se a maior crise humanitária do
continente. Antes de se fecharem para o arranque da cimeira que o
presidente do Conselho Europeu, Donald Tusk, descreveu como do “vai
ou racha”, os líderes do bloco perderam-se em acusações e
recriminações que deixaram evidente que o consenso era impossível.
Decisões da
Áustria, e novas exigências da Hungria, Polónia, Eslováquia e
República Checa, anunciadas quase em cima da hora da reunião,
enfureceram os restantes parceiros e os funcionários europeus que
passaram as últimas semanas a acertar um rascunho que pudesse
materializar-se num plano de acção concreto, baseado no acordo que
os 28 assinaram com a Turquia, no sentido de travar o fluxo de
refugiados no seu território.
Uma reunião
pré-cimeira para aprofundar essa proposta com o primeiro-ministro
turco, Ahmet Davutoglu, acabou por ser cancelada na noite anterior
por causa do atentado junto ao Parlamento de Ancara, que matou 28
pessoas (e que os líderes europeus condenaram em comunicado).
Assumindo o seu protagonismo nesse processo, a chanceler da Alemanha,
Angela Merkel, disse que o cancelamento da reunião não impedia a
discussão da “agenda para a imigração estabelecida entre a União
Europeia e a Turquia”.
Aliás, a líder
germânica considerou que essa discussão continuava a ser
“prioritária”, uma vez que é nela que assenta a estratégia de
resposta à crise: por um lado, a segurança das fronteiras; por
outro, a responsabilidade pelo acolhimento das populações em risco.
Para o presidente da Comissão Europeia, Jean-Claude Juncker, o
trabalho da cimeira resumia-se a “assegurar as condições para a
implementação” dos planos já debatidos pelos Estados-membros,
nomeadamente no último Conselho Europeu de Dezembro. “Dizer que a
sua execução está a ser inadequada é ser muito simpático”,
observou Juncker.
Em entrevista à
Reuters, o comissário europeu com o pelouro das migrações,
Dimitris Avramopoulos, disse que para além do acordo de cooperação
assinado com a Turquia – que prevê uma transferência de três mil
milhões de euros para que Ancara assuma a responsabilidade pelo
alojamento e a integração das vagas de refugiados que chegaram ao
país – a Comissão estava a trabalhar num “plano de
contingência” para a recepção das famílias em fuga da guerra da
Síria, e também para a sua redistribuição pelos vários países
da União. “A Europa não vai fechar a porta a quem tem direito à
protecção internacional. Mas vai estabelecer um sistema e vai
dizer-lhes para onde vão”, assegurou.
No entanto,
desafiando a posição de Berlim e de Bruxelas, o bloco oriental
formado pela Hungria, Polónia, Eslováquia e República Checa veio
exigir que uma solução alternativa, de fecho de fronteiras dos
países que rodeiam a Grécia, fosse também considerada para impedir
o acesso à Europa Central dos milhares de migrantes que desembarcam
na costa helénica. “Parece-me que a solução para a crise de
refugiados não passa pela construção de barreiras e muros nem pela
promoção do racismo”, reagiu imediatamente o primeiro-ministro
grego, Alexis Tsipras.
Quando chegou a
Bruxelas, o chanceler da Áustria, Werner Faymann, confirmou que o
seu país vai seguir precisamente por essa via, estabelecendo um
limite para o número de entradas de refugiados e restringindo as
passagens na fronteira a 80 por dia – uma decisão unilateral que
não só põe em causa o esquema de distribuição equitativa dos
candidatos a asilo por todos os parceiros, como viola normas
europeias e legislação humanitária internacional. “A decisão
está tomada e é para cumprir. Depois de 100 mil refugiados, não
vamos dizer ao povo austríaco que fica tudo na mesma”, sublinhou o
chefe do Governo. “É vergonhoso fazer um anúncio destes à
entrada para a cimeira; só pode ser visto como uma provocação”,
resmungava um dirigente europeu citado pela Reuters sob anonimato.
Para o presidente do
Parlamento Europeu, Martin Schulz, o momento de crise exige que os
líderes europeus sejam “pragmáticos” e não “sacudam
responsabilidades”. “Esta crise só pode ser resolvida com
unidade e solidariedade”, sublinhou, considerando incompreensível
que até ao momento não tenha sido encontrado um entendimento mínimo
que garanta a recolocação dos refugiados que entraram na Europa em
2015 nos vários Estados-membros. “Encontrar um lugar para dois
milhões de refugiados entre 500 milhões de pessoas em 28 países
não devia ser assim tão complicado”, lamentou.
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David
Cameron wages ‘battle’ for Britain at EU summit
After
first night of talks ends, Europe’s leaders keep working to reach a
deal to avoid a Brexit.
By CRAIG WINNEKER
and STEPHEN BROWN 2/18/16, 6:33 PM CET
One shirt down,
nobody knows how many more to go.
EU leaders broke up
talks after the first night of what had been billed as a “three-shirt
summit” in Brussels without an agreement on redefining the U.K.’s
membership of the Union — and with a lot of work left to do.
Differences remained
on several key issues when leaders adjourned in the early hours of
Friday morning, by which time their discussion on avoiding a Brexit,
held much earlier in the evening, had long been eclipsed by an
unexpectedly long argument over how to deal with Europe’s migration
crisis.
A “working dinner”
on that thorny question turned into a six-hour debate — focused
mainly on Austria’s contentious decision to cap the number of
asylum-seekers it would take in.
Informal talks on
the U.K.-EU deal resumed immediately after the summit meeting ended,
and would continue into Friday as leaders, officials and diplomats
tried to fine-tune the language of the agreement to address concerns
raised by several countries.
“We have made some
progress but a lot still remains to be done,” said European Council
President Donald Tusk in a brief press statement after the meeting
adjourned at around 2:30 a.m. A visibly tired Tusk and European
Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker then turned to a series of
“bilateral” meetings with EU leaders aimed at firming up support
for the deal.
They met first with
British Prime Minister David Cameron and were then to hold
head-to-head talks with three leaders who had raised serious
objections to the deal: French President François Hollande, Belgian
Prime Minister Charles Michel and Czech Prime Minister Bohuslav
Sobotka.
Cameron did not make
a statement after the meeting ended, but during the talks on the
Brexit question he held to his promise to “battle for Britain”
and insisted that EU leaders support reforms he could sell to U.K.
voters ahead of an In/Out referendum.
The British prime
minister kicked off the meeting by telling EU leaders the “question
of Britain’s place in Europe has been allowed to fester for too
long and it is time to deal with it.”
Calling the summit a
chance “to settle this issue for a generation,” Cameron said it
could result in “a fundamentally different approach to our
relationship with the EU — what some might call a sort of ‘live
and let live.’”
Cameron had already
framed the issue more bluntly as he arrived at the meeting, telling
reporters, “I’ll be battling for Britain.”
As part of that
battle he launched a surprise salvo, asking other EU leaders to give
Britain the power to ban in-work welfare benefits for migrants from
EU countries for up to 13 years, an EU diplomat said.
The Conservative
leader had been expected to ask for only a seven-year “safety
mechanism” period during talks. However, he kicked off the
discussions by raising the stakes and asking for the option of two
additional three-year periods, the diplomat said.
But his 27
counterparts in the EU, while generally voicing their eagerness to
reach a deal that would keep Britain among their ranks, made it clear
they would not surrender so easily to all of the U.K.’s demands.
Several said they still have issues with Cameron’s proposed changes
to EU rules and were prepared to talk through the night — even into
the next day and beyond — if necessary.
Addressing one of
the thorniest issues, Cameron told the leaders he wants immediate
action to reform rules on welfare benefits sent by EU migrants to
their children living abroad, a demand that has been difficult for
Central and Eastern European countries to accept.
“Such a proposal
would be unacceptable for 10 countries at least, maybe more,” Tomáš
Prouza, the Czech Republic’s state secretary for EU affairs, told
POLITICO.
The predominant tone
of other EU leaders going into the meeting was one of cautious
optimism.
Other critics homed
in on Cameron’s demand for a British exclusion from EU treaty
language promising an “ever closer union.” Strongly pro-European
countries, including France and Belgium, oppose moving away from the
language.
“There are those
who say it is symbolic, and others who say that symbols matter,”
said one EU diplomat with knowledge of the summit discussions over
how to phrase the deal’s language. “These are again contortions
of language.”
Valletta Summit on
Migration
Another EU official
described the problem as a clash between a strict legal
interpretation of the EU treaty and the political reality of what its
words mean. Tusk, the official said, is trying to convince leaders
that the words “ever closer union” do not constitute a legal
commitment to further political integration — anathema to Cameron.
“That’s a legal
fact,” the official said, “but that collides with the political
notion in many member states and when you then spell it out, as we
have done, it is problematic.”
German Chancellor
Angela Merkel said she was confident a deal could be reached over the
U.K. demands, despite continued disagreements on issues such as
social welfare for migrants. Ultimately, the leaders understood that
the compromises necessary to keep the U.K. in the EU would be less
painful than its exit.
“It’s clear that
this isn’t easy for some, but the will to get this done is there,”
she said, stressing Germany’s continued support for the U.K.’s
position.
Tusk has not been
shy in recent days about stressing the fragile nature of the
negotiations and importance of reaching a deal quickly.
“There is a
serious risk that the U.K. will leave the Union,” he said in an
interview with Polish television before the summit. That, he added,
would be “the beginning of the end” for the Union.
The predominant tone
of other EU leaders going into the meeting was one of cautious
optimism — everyone wants a deal and is confident it can be
achieved but no one was willing to pronounce it done just yet.
Eastern European
countries have resisted Britain’s proposals to restrict welfare
benefits to EU migrants employed in the U.K. Their opposition
appeared to be softening in recent days as diplomats tinkered with
language of the agreement on how the restrictions would be applied.
But they were promising to keep up the fight.
“We want to come
to an understanding,” Polish Prime Minister Beata Szydło said
Thursday afternoon at the summit’s doorstep, “but not at any
cost.”
France has held a
strong rhetorical line against another controversial measure in the
draft agreement: giving non-eurozone countries too much of a say in
euro affairs.
Hollande, arriving
at the meeting, said he was confident a deal could be struck, but
warned that nobody should be above the EU’s common rules. “An
agreement is possible but only if certain conditions are met,” said
Hollande. “No countries can have a veto.”
I think everyone
will have its own drama, and then we will agree.
The sideshow,
bilateral meetings took on crucial importance as leaders huddled to
discuss strategy and positioning. Hollande and Merkel met before the
summit even began, to talk about migration and according to a
diplomat familiar with their talks stressed their “perfect
coordination” on both Brexit and migration issues.
But it remained to
be seen whether that coordination would be shared by everyone around
the table, and how long it would take to find out.
The expected
scenario was perhaps best described by Dalia Grybauskaitė, the
president of Lithuania, who upon entering the meeting drily noted the
tendency of EU politics to be theatrical.
Asked if a deal were
possible at the summit, she said: “I hope so, why not? I think
everyone will have its own drama, and then we will agree.”
Tara Palmeri and
Maïa de la Baume contributed to this article.
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