Debate: Preparation of the European Council meeting of - October
Date: WEDNESDAY, 18 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Maroš Šefčovič
Language: EN

So this allows me to focus more on two topics that will be discussed at the European Council: migration and competitiveness. On the former, the Commission is acting continuously at an operational level: we have worked with Italy, UN agencies and other partners to bring the situation under control. We have mobilised all the tools at our disposal and it is bringing the results. This can be a blueprint for the future, because what is happening on the southern coast of Europe is not only a local issue, it is a challenge for all of Europe and requires clearly a European response. This has been our approach to migration since the very beginning of our mandate, and with the new Pact on Migration and Asylum, we can build a long-lasting framework to manage migration instead of just reacting to it. On the EU side, an agreement on the pact is closer than ever: Parliament and the Council are advancing in the negotiations, and we hope that we can get the Pact over the finishing line very soon. But we also have to turn the spirit of the Pact into action outside of our borders: just as we need a balanced and structured approach within the EU, so we do with the countries of origin and transit. Our goal is a new kind of cooperation that addresses the reasons that make people leave their homes in the first place, and at the same time we have to fight smugglers and the criminal organisations. The better we are in building legal opportunities to reach Europe, the stricter we can be with irregular movements. We know that cooperation is not always easy, but it is our duty to engage with our neighbours as much as we can to build common ground and find practical solutions. This requires hard work and sometimes difficult conversations, but it is an approach with clear benefits for both sides. Moving forward, we need to focus in particular on three dimensions: first, fighting against smuggling and preventing the loss of life at sea; second, cooperating on returns; and third, working on alternative legal pathways. On the first point, if you allow, in the State of the Union and in the Commission Work Programme, we announced an international conference to step up cooperation against smugglers. Its goal will be to create a global alliance on anti-smuggling with a call to action. The alliance will be the place to work with our partners on issues ranging from law enforcement and judicial cooperation to information campaigns, from shutting down the supply chains and financial flows of criminal groups to building economic alternatives. Together, we can start a new era of cooperation and stop these merchants of death. In parallel, we will also put forward legislative proposals to update our anti-smuggling legislation with more coordination among Member States, harmonised rules and a reinforced European Migrant Smuggling Centre with Europol. Second, returns: last year, we took 420 000 return decisions for people who do not have the right to stay in our Union, but only 77 000 were actually returned, and we need to do better at enforcing these decisions. Part of the work must happen at home with today’s rules. People who pose a national security risk are asked to leave the EU voluntarily. The Return Directive that is a part of the Pact will change this, because if a person has broken our criminal laws, we should have the power to make them leave, and I call on this House to help finalise this important piece of the Pact. Besides this, cooperation with third countries is crucial. For instance, our work with Bangladesh on returns led by Commissioner Johansson has resulted in substantial progress. For this, we need constant engagement and political outreach work. This is why Vice-President Schinas has already travelled to Ivory Coast, Guinea, Senegal, Mauritania and Gambia. All of them are ready and willing to work with us. Our offer to our partners is clear and it links to my third point: building legal pathways. We can grant more opportunities for people to come to Europe legally with our visa policy and talent partnerships. But we also expect cooperation to ensure the return of irregular migrants. This is the balance that a sustainable migration policy needs. Honourable Members, the second topic I would like to address is competitiveness and in particular its international dimension. Many of the challenges that our companies are facing are global in nature, from bottlenecks along the global supply chains – including because of export restrictions – to unfair trade practices. Addressing all of these issues will be a central theme for the rest of the mandate. We are aiming to complete ambitious trade deals with Australia, Mexico and Mercosur by the end of this year and we have an intense season of summits ahead of us, for example with China – where we need a frank conversation on how to make our trade relationship more balanced and beneficial for both – and with India, to move forward our free trade agreement. Tomorrow, President von der Leyen will travel to the US for what we expect will be a very positive summit. When we took office, transatlantic relations were in troubled waters, with hundreds of tariffs that created uncertainty and made business much harder for our companies. But we have now managed to press pause on our differences, and with this summit, we can end them for good. We are working on two ground-breaking agreements on critical minerals and on clean steel and aluminium. We want to join forces to de-risk global supply chains for critical minerals, and we want to encourage the decarbonisation of the steel industry worldwide, addressing at the same time unfair competition and global access capacity. This is the power of the transatlantic partnership: it is good for business and for the fight on global challenges like climate change. This House will have a central role in turning the political commitments of the summit into legally binding agreements. One year before elections on both sides of the Atlantic, we can consolidate the progress that we have achieved so far and deliver long-lasting benefits for Europeans and European businesses.