The presidents of the European Commission and the European Council said this Friday that they maintain confidence in a possible agreement on migration in the European Union (EU) and highlighted that there has been progress on this matter for the first time in years.
The debates on immigration in the EU “in recent years have been ideological, difficult and even emotional”, more work needs to be done, but in recent weeks, under the European presidency of Spain, which lasts this semester, “there has been a important step forward,” said the President of the European Council, Charles Michel.
Charles Michel spoke at the press conference following Friday’s informal European Council meeting in Granada, southern Spain, in which the reference to migration was removed from the meeting’s final declaration due to opposition from Hungary and Poland.
The references to migration initially provided for in the Grenada Declaration ended up being only part of a declaration by the President of the Council himself.
Charles Michel stressed that his personal statement has “broad support” in the European Council.
The advances to which Charles Michel referred are the agreements that the 27 countries of the European Union have already reached, but at the level of ministers and ambassadors, as was the case of the understanding announced this week in relation to a regulation relating to emergency situations. crisis. in migration zone.
The prime ministers of Hungary and Poland said this Friday, upon their arrival at the meeting in Granada, that they reject this agreement announced this week and that there is no possibility of approval of a new Pact on Migration and Asylum in the European Union.
The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, stated this Friday afternoon, in the same final conference of the Granada meeting, that she maintains confidence in an agreement between the 27 for a new Pact on Migration and Asylum.
“I trust that we will find good solutions on immigration,” he stated, before adding that there can be “a lot of talk” about the Pact on Migration and Asylum and the so-called “internal dimension” of the response to immigration, but the process ” continues on its path” and “there is a very good chance that it will conclude successfully.
Both Charles Michel and Ursula von der Leyen highlighted that there is a “broad consensus” within the European Council (where the heads of State and Government of the 27 EU countries meet) on the external aspect of immigration, i.e. the defense and protection of the external borders of the Union, the fight against human trafficking networks or greater cooperation with the countries of origin and transit of irregular immigration.
The heads of State and Government of the EU debated this Friday in Granada a Europe prepared for the next decade, with the migration issue being one of the topics on the agenda, two days after the ambassadors of the Member States gave the green light to the new Pact for Migration and Asylum in a preliminary agreement on the regulation for crisis management.
In a draft of the Grenada Declaration, the document with the conclusions of this Friday’s meeting, migration was spoken of as “a European challenge that requires a European response”, particularly with regard to irregular migration, which “must be addressed immediately and in a determined manner.”
However, the references were removed from the joint statement of the 27 due to objections from Hungary and Poland.
The European Commission proposed the new Pact on Migration and Asylum in September 2020, with the aim of “building in the best possible way a long-term migration management and normalization system, fully based on European values and international law.” “, following the 2015-2016 migration crisis.
With this week’s pre-agreement, at ambassadorial level, negotiations between the Council and the European Parliament could be concluded, with the aim of concluding them by the end of the year, so that the pact can still be formally adopted. in this legislature, that is, before the European elections in June 2024.
Source: TSF
