Midway through this week, the European Union (EU) reached an agreement on migration policy, but far from consensus and with expected rifts in party extremities. Speaking to DN, MEP Paulo Rangel, elected by the PSD, guaranteed that this pact “will create a more careful regulation of migration” to protect borders, while at the same time proposing “a more favorable regime” for refugees. On the other side of the barricade, MEP João Pimenta Lopes, elected by the PCP, highlights a pact that “does not respond at all” to the needs of people fleeing “the deterioration of living conditions” in their country of origin. word ‘criminalization’.
For now, the watchword is that there is hope that this legislation can still be shaped to meet the wishes of both EU member states and those seeking refuge in Europe to find a better life. In a short note to DN, Socialist MEP Isabel Santos emphasizes the importance of this fact “It is possible to reach an agreement on migration and asylum”without forgetting, however, that there are still rough edges to be smoothed out. “It is far from the pact I have always defended, based on jointly sharing responsibility for asylum among member states; on establishing humanitarian corridors and regulated and safe routes; on the implementation of an effective integration policy. hope that progress can be made in the future”he decides.
Speaking to DN, Paulo Rangel recalled that the pact was signed this week “is a consensus between the European Socialist Group, the Liberal Group and the EPP Group [Partido Popular Europeu]”. The latter is what the PSD integrates into its ranks.
What is at stake in this document, based on five regulations yet to be voted on in the European Parliament, is essentially “creating a balance between the conditions for accepting migrants and asylum seekers in the European space, with respect for the fundamental axes, but also for the security needs of the EU itself,” said Paulo Rangel.
Agreement without consensus
This agreement has not produced a consensus between the parties and arguments have been put forward by all parties and with predicted consequences for the national policies of each Member State.
According to a statement by José Gusmão, MEP of the Left Bloc, published on the left.net page: “the consensus reached this morning [na quarta-feira] shows how the far-right agenda managed to permeate all European institutions. But it is important to emphasize: this agreement was reached with the leadership and active participation of the center, right, liberals and socialists. It is therefore a reflection of the defeat of human rights in European politics,” said the delegate, adding that “this pact institutionalizes all the violations of fundamental rights and the right to asylum that we have denounced , both in the Member States and abroad. third countries with which the EU has relations. On the background, This pact authorizes killing, persecuting, detaining and deporting.”
Faced with the bloc political position on the consequences of the agreement reached by Europe on migration, Paulo Rangel believes that this is the case “There is a populist agenda from the radical right, which is that all immigrants are terrible and we should destroy them”, which is “unacceptable” for the deputy. For this reason, however, he believes that this package of measures is “very important because it responds to a concern of Europeans, in a way that properly balances issues of security and border protection with respect for dignity and fundamental rights”. He states this specifically about the words of José Gusmão “accusations from the radical left, which understands that anyone must enter the European Union under any circumstances”. “We know this doesn’t work. In fact, unfortunately in many cases this has led to the rise of certain governments or parties that cause us great concern about the rule of law,” he criticizes and wonders whether “this legislation is ideal”. “It is not ideal, but the best is the enemy of the good,” he concludes.
Mandatory solidarity
To justify his position, Paulo Rangel recalls one of the essential points of this legislative package, which translates into a system of compulsory solidarity, consisting of financial sanctions imposed on Member States that refuse to receive migrants who meet the conditions to to cross the borders. “We have been voting for a long time on the idea that the people coming in, starting with EU regulations, should be distributed equally among the different Member States. We know that there are Member States that resolutely refuse to receive them. Now they have an obligation, a financial and monetary obligation, if they do not accept to receive certain people,” he explains.
To DN, asked about this specific point, deputy João Pimenta Lopes criticizes the introduction of this mechanism for charging a monetary value for each person who does not cross the border. “A solidarity that, in addition to this advance payment per refused person, also includes the financing of mechanisms related to this border control”. Moreover, João Pimenta Lopes points the finger at the potential “installation of infrastructure, walls with barbed wire, maritime surveillance, externalization of borders, now the militarization of the Mediterranean associated with the presence of NATO”. The communist MP had already criticized ‘the deepening of a migration policy of the European Union, which has already been implemented, but which aims, in an even more selective approach, to criminalize migration and even the right to asylum, which would can contribute to undermining international law. itself is at stake.”
Human trafficking and divorce
Regarding the concrete implications for migrants, João Pimenta Lopes highlights the family separations that can result from these processes, which he considers “an apparent logic of the mathematical distribution of refugees”.. “An asylum seeker seeking shelter in the European Union will try to go to a country where he has no network, or will try to go to a country where he has relatives, people he knows. These elements must of course be addressed in the asylum procedures. All this remains erased. In fact, the issue of family reunification, for example, is one of the elements that is being erased.”considering.
Asked about the position of the association Solidariedade Imigrante, which responded to the EU pact last Wednesday by warning that this legislation will increase human trafficking, Social Democratic deputy Paulo Rangel tried to refute this idea with the example of a married couple who limit reached “with 10 children”. “Or they can come for very benign reasons, for example because other families have asked to take them in, because they think that their children have no chance in the country where they are,” he points out, or else “It is a classic about child trafficking”. In these circumstances, he stressed, with this legislation there will be “some possibility of knowing whether or not human trafficking is taking place”, including through the processing of “biometric data”. On this issue, Deputy João Pimenta Lopes emphasizes the importance of nipping evil in the bud, arguing that “It is not possible to respond to the issue of migration flows without addressing the root causes that push millions of people to move. This would mean abandoning the policy of destabilization, aggression against third countries, respect for sovereignty, the independence of States, the principles of the Charter of International Law of the United Nations”he decides.
High spirits in AR
On the sidelines of the discussion on the pact signed in the European Union, yesterday in the Assembly of the Republic the ink broke between Chega and all the other benches in the meeting room on the policy for migrants. The party’s leader, André Ventura, criticized the policy of “doors open to all”, dismantling the “Foreign Affairs and Borders (SEF)” and what he called an “absolutely astonishing policy of insecurity that all Portuguese feel”, with all others banks. consider these statements as demagoguery, incitement to hatred and xenophobia.
Source: DN
