Ursula von der Leien called on the EU member states to support the EC proposals for the revision of European migration standards
The existing migration control systems in the European Union have ceased to work and need urgent reconstruction. This was announced on Thursday by the head of the European Commission (EC), Ursula von der Leyen, speaking at a hearing on migration in the European Parliament.
“Migration systems in the EU are no longer working, it is time to recognise this”, – she said, calling on all EU countries to support the EC proposals to revise European migration standards.
The draft reform was presented on 23 September and its central proposal is to abolish the current Dublin system, which requires that the EU country where the person first arrived from outside the EU be responsible for the reception and accommodation or repatriation of a particular migrant. The European Commission has proposed to make the responsibility for the reception, accommodation and repatriation of migrants a pan-European task, which implies the obligation of all Community countries, including those that are away from the main migration routes, in particular Eastern European countries, to host migrants from the most problematic EU countries in this field – Greece, Italy and Spain.
“All EU countries must support countries that are under high [migration] pressure. The European Union must remain at the level of its humanitarian commitments”, – von der Leyen said.
In her speech, she portrayed the EU migration crisis as a simple scheme: “In search of political asylum or a better life, people leave their homes and fall into the hands of violent smugglers, which leads to many tragedies (i.e. the deaths of boats and small ships with migrants in the Mediterranean Sea that are not adapted to sea crossings – TASS). Von der Leijen reminded that the European Commission is also proposing that “a clear system of asylum and repatriation for people who are not entitled to it should be adopted at the European level. In addition, the European Commission has proposed creating optimal conditions for legal migration so that people who come to Europe legally feel welcome.
The last track proposed by the head of the European Commission is “working with countries of origin and transit of migrants”, i.e. the countries of Central and North Africa. Von der Leyen called for better living conditions in these countries “so that people do not leave their homes so easily. The EU has been doing this work for decades, but one of the pressing problems that Brussels has not yet been able to solve is obtaining the consent of African countries to receive migrants back from Europe, especially those whose nationality has not been established. In this regard, the European Parliament has repeatedly debated the use of concessions of coronavirus vaccine as a means of further strengthening EU influence in countries of origin and transit of migrants.