Debate: The urgent need for action at EU level to ensure humane treatment of migrants in Europe, including at the borders
Date: TUESDAY, 13 SEPTEMBER 2022
Speaker: Mikuláš Bek
Language: EN

In particular, EU fundamental rights and values must be upheld, and Member States confronted with substantiated allegations of refoulement, violence and abuse of migrants should contact the relevant investigations with a view to establishing the facts.  We will also continue to support and work with all our partners to ensure that migration flows at our borders are well-managed and that migrants’ rights are always respected. EU frontline Member States have not only the right but also the duty to protect these borders in full respect for human dignity and within the framework of the Schengen borders code.  Protecting the Schengen external borders effectively is not contrary to respect for the values and fundamental rights of the EU. This is an ongoing obligation which Member States fulfil, despite some huge difficulties, such as the cruel instrumentalisation of migrants by third countries and the specific challenges of protecting maritime borders.  Instrumentalisation of migrants remains an issue of high importance, and that is why we need a permanent legal framework that can improve our preparedness and our ability to respond to similar situations in an orderly, humane and dignified manner.  Work has already begun in the Council on the examination of the proposal for a regulation on addressing situations of instrumentalisation in the field of migration and asylum.  Madam President, honourable Members, Commissioner, we are witnessing a sharp increase of arrivals of irregular migrants in 2022 across the various Mediterranean routes. To support specifically countries in the Mediterranean, we are closely cooperating with the European Commission on the implementation of the solidarity declaration agreed under the French Presidency. We consider the declaration as an exceptional instrument of solidarity.  At the same time, it is our duty to ensure a well-functioning EU asylum and migration policy that provides international protection to those in need, while ensuring swift returns of those who are not eligible to international protection. Here, the new pact comes into play.  Discussions on the different aspects of the new pact on migration and asylum have advanced significantly under the French Presidency, and the Czech Presidency is taking them forward. The agreement on the roadmap we signed with the Parliament last week is an important step in this direction and a clear demonstration of the political willingness of both co-legislators to work on all asylum files with a view to their adoption at the latest by the end of term of this Parliament.  In this regard, we are now relaunching the discussion on the solidarity mechanism in the Council. Given the high political sensitivity, we are working on a new concept that could be a basis for a compromise among all Member States. The main goal would be to propose a legally binding mechanism that would be realistically agreeable in the given timeframe while maintaining a high level of integrity of the solidarity system.  We are also in close contact with the members of the LIBE Committee to ensure sincere cooperation and close communication as agreed in the above mentioned roadmap. I trust that this clearly demonstrates our commitment to move this reform forward, including the crucial issue of solidarity.  Ladies and gentlemen, let me end my intervention by recalling the important role that our agencies – Frontex and the European Union Agency for Asylum – play in terms of assisting frontline Member States, but also other Member States in managing migration in an effective and human way and ensuring lawful procedures and proper reception of migrants and asylum seekers.