Debate: Need for a speedy adoption of the asylum and migration package
Date: WEDNESDAY, 4 OCTOBER 2023
Speaker: Margaritis Schinas
Language: EN

For the last four years in the Commission, in the current political cycle, when we had to deal with migration, we were obliged to work at the same time as architects and firefighters. Architects of a new regulatory framework that would be cohesive, holistic, global, and that would connect all the dots of a missing European migration and asylum policy. And, at the same time, as firefighters being obliged to cope with an endless series and sequence of crises, both at our external borders and in other parts of our territory. On the architect track, I thank you for putting our Asylum and Migration Pact on top of this House’s political agenda. Recent events once more show that we need a European migration policy. We need the pact, and we need it now. The clock has run out on us on how long we can live in a house half-built. Parallel to this regulatory work, we see every day our problems emerging, the cost of non-Europe emerging on migration as we continue to work on the firefighting front, reacting to different events on a case-by-case basis with ad hoc tools and in a patchwork regulatory environment. This produces some results. It brings us some successes, but it prevents us from reaching the full efficiency, unity and solidarity I am convinced we can achieve. We have all seen the recent images from Lampedusa, and we still have similar images in our mind from Evros, from the Belarusian border with Poland and our Baltic states, Ceuta. We have seen the central Mediterranean route. Nearly 127 000 people have reached the EU so far from this route, almost double compared to the period last year. There are increasing arrivals to the Greek islands as well as to the Canary Islands. And, of course, there continue to be secondary movements, mainly towards Germany, France and Belgium. More than 600 000 people applied for asylum this year, showing many also arrive legally in Europe. And over four million Ukrainian refugees continue to benefit from our blanket temporary protection status. We are addressing these challenges together at the same time. We just renewed the status of temporary protection for Ukrainian refugees until March 2025. We presented an effective 10-point plan to support Italy, reinforcing our support to Italy, notably through our work on the ground and our EU agencies. We are stepping up border surveillance at sea and in the air, and we are supporting proper registration of all people arriving. Parallel to that, we are reaching out to countries of origin and transit in Africa and elsewhere. I have last week travelled to Ivory Coast, Senegal and Guinea, and I will travel next week to Mauritania and Gambia. We are working with these countries of origin to make sure that they understand that they have much more to benefit from the European Union by working with us rather than against us. And we have, of course, stepped up the implementation of the memorandum of understanding with Tunisia in very specific circumstances, also concerning fundamental rights. Finally, we are putting in place, for November, a very ambitious legal migration framework: a talent partnership that would align our vacancies in our job markets with available offer and expertise from the countries of origin that want to establish good working relations. In this aspect, this scheme would certainly allow Tunisians to learn new skills and help meet the severe labour shortages hampering growth in our job market. Whilst we are addressing these firefighting challenges, we see and we come to an obvious conclusion. Unless we are able to address all these issues together at the same time globally, we will never fully overcome these problems. We must now put in place a common European migration and asylum system. One that we have been building passionately over the last three years and we are now very close to completing. A system that addresses all our difficulties, all our problems, with fast procedures at the border to identify asylum or return; with mandatory solidarity, helping Member States under pressure, obliging all Member States to contribute according to their ability and needs; with a reinforced returns system for those who have no right to be under our protection umbrella; and mutually beneficial migration partnerships with countries of origin, transit and destination to find the smugglers who bring death to our seas and to develop safe legal pathways to Europe. All this in one package is called the EU Asylum and Migration Pact. We have come very far. Much farther than we dared dream four years ago. Formerly divisive files like the ‘blue cards’ and the asylum agency are now adopted. Interinstitutional trilogues are underway for almost every single proposal in the pact. As we speak,  Honourable Members, time is running out. In a few months, there will be elections. We need the pact done and dusted before Europeans go out to vote. I ask you that, once we have the green light from the Council, you adopt your mandate also on the Return Directive and continue trilogues on all other files. The whole of Europe is now watching us. Measuring carefully my words, I would say history is watching us. If we fail, then we will give fuel to the false claims made by the enemies of democracy, by Russian disinformation, that Europe is incapable of managing migration. But if we succeed, we will show that Europe can unite on this issue that’s so important to our citizens. I remain convinced that the biggest incentive for irregular migration, probably the biggest pull factor, is the lack of a European migration and asylum system. Loopholes in the system we have today continue to be exploited and abused by smugglers. And this will remain the case until we make a difference. We have so much to be proud of in our Union. We are the largest and better-regulated internal market in the world. We have the second-strongest currency in the world. We are the champions of human rights, privacy, healthcare, education and democracy. We have everything except a common migration and asylum policy worthy of the name. Three years ago, when we presented the pact, we knew at the time that it would not be an easy journey. And our progress so far has been as remarkable as it has been complex. We are so close now, but it will require sustained efforts from both this House and the Council. But, above all, it will require courage: the courage of our convictions and the courage to take necessary compromises. We will not rebuild the Parthenon, but we now have a window of opportunity where everybody can agree upon.