EU
set to change the rules for refugees
Scrapping
the ‘Dublin Regulation’ would shift burden of dealing with
refugees from south to north.
By JACOPO BARIGAZZI
3/4/16, 6:24 PM CET Updated 3/5/16, 7:01 AM CET
The European
Commission will propose changing the EU rule requiring that refugees
be registered in the first country where they arrive, the bloc’s
top migration official said Friday.
The measure is a key
element of the so-called Dublin Regulation, which the Commission has
been under pressure to revise as refugees have arrived by the
hundreds of thousands in Greece and Italy. Eliminating the rule, as
some have advocated, would effectively shift the burden of receiving
refugees from southern European countries, where most of them first
arrive, to northern European ones, where most of them are heading.
The Commission is
expected to officially present its proposal to reform the Dublin
Regulation on March 16.
Under the current
system, refugees can be sent back to the country where they were
first registered, one of the reasons why many have tried not to be
identified in the southern European countries. But it was already
considered dead after German Chancellor Angela Merkel last August
called the rule “obsolete” and suspended it for Syrians arriving
in her country.
“It is our
intention to change it,” EU Migration Commissioner Dimitris
Avramopoulos told reporters Friday, when asked whether the rule would
be done away with.
Officials said a
final decision had not been made yet on whether to completely scrap
the first-country-of-arrival rule, adding that it could merely be
softened.
Avramopoulos’
comment came as the Greek commissioner was outlining an ambitious
plan to save the free-passport Schengen area, which has come under
increasing threat as several countries have reimposed border controls
to halt the flow of refugees.
In its report
released Friday, the Commission said the costs of losing the Schengen
agreement — resulting in full reinstatement of border controls
across the EU — would be between €5 billion and €18 billion per
year.
The Commission has
set December 2016 as its “target date” for bringing to an end
internal border controls reintroduced by some member countries,
including Germany and Austria.
Refugees and
migrants queue to receive food distributed by NGO's at the port of
Piraeus
Avramopoulos also
promised progress on the EU’s plans to relocate refugees across the
bloc, which have been resisted by several countries in recent months.
The commissioner said that he expected “massive relocations” to
begin in coming days. “Several pledges have been made in the last
few days and I really count on member states to deliver,” he said.
EU countries
promised last year to relocate 160,000 refugees from Greece and Italy
but as of this week only 660 have been relocated, according to the
Commission.
Avramopoulos and
other EU officials have worked intensively in recent days to get
countries in line on migration policy ahead of Monday’s summit,
which will also include a meeting with Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet
Davutoğlu. The commissioner said the meeting would be “decisive”
for a European solution to the migration crisis.
Also ahead of
Monday’s meeting, the U.N.’s refugee agency outlined its own
six-point plan to help solve the refugee crisis.
The agency’s
chief, Filippo Grandi, called for the full implementation of the
so-called “hotspot” approach and relocation of asylum-seekers
from Greece and Italy. Member countries should comply with all the EU
laws on asylum, Grandi said, urging the bloc to offer those in need
of protection “more safe, legal ways to travel to Europe” so that
“refugees do not resort to summers and traffickers to find safety.”
Also, Greece needs
more support to handle the humanitarian emergency, Grandi said, as
the situation in the country is “quickly deteriorating” with some
30,000 people now stuck near the border with Macedonia.
“We are running
out of time, and strong leadership and vision are urgently needed
from European leaders,” Grandi said in a statement released Friday.
Barbara Surk
contributed to this article.
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