Progress in the Reform on the European Migration Policy

In 2023, the European Union witnessed progress in the Migration Pact, marking the adoption of a deep and intricate reform of EU migration policy. The decisive moment came in June, when EU interior ministers agreed on a "mandatory solidarity" system aimed at involving all member states in the reception of asylum seekers. That agreement paved the way for formal negotiations between the Council and the European Parliament, both tasked with working out the complex legislative details. The goal is to establish an efficient and collective immigration management system by the spring of 2024, which coincides with the end of the legislative term. 

The mechanism finally seems to be working well despite the criticism it has received. After controversy regarding disappointing numbers in the first six months, 2,808 migrant resettlements have been successfully carried out from countries of first arrival to other EU member states participating in the voluntary solidarity mechanism, which was launched in June 2022 and renewed on May 25, 2023. This represents a monumental change from December 2022, when only 112 transfers out of 8,000 planned had been completed.

The agreement on voluntary solidarity, which has been called "historic" by the European Commissioner for Home Affairs, had come under harsh criticism in early November following a diplomatic dispute between Italy and France over the landing of 230 migrants rescued by the NGO SOS Mediterranée's Ocean Viking ship: Paris threatened to halt resettlements and encouraged all other participants to sabotage their commitments to Italy.

Subsequently, the European Commission announced, through the Action Plan for the Central Mediterranean, its intention to improve the effectiveness of the mechanism. Hence the creation of a "solidarity platform" to coordinate the implementation of commitments among the 23 participating states, including 19 EU countries and four associated countries. Then, in February, an agreement was reached between the EU executive and the 23 countries to review and simplify operational procedures to ensure faster implementation of the commitments. At that point, the temporary mechanism, initially planned for one year, was approaching expiration: on May 25, the participating countries agreed to extend the mechanism beyond June with the aim of completing the commitments made so far. These commitments were mainly made by France and Germany, each of which has made efforts to take in 3,500 and 3,000 migrants from the Med5 group countries (Italy, Spain, Greece, Malta, and Cyprus), respectively.

During the 15 months of this agreement, European sources report that as many as 76 relocation operations occurred to different nations, including Germany, France, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Romania, Finland, Portugal, Norway, Ireland, and Croatia. During this period, Italy successfully received and resettled a total of 1,159 migrants, while Cyprus emerges as the second largest recipient recording 1,090 transfers. In contrast, resettlement numbers from Greece (296), Spain (155) and Malta (108) remain relatively small. New transfers are expected in the coming weeks from all five Med5 countries. In a summer in which more than 60,000 people landed on Italian shores alone, these efforts will certainly not alleviate the pressure on first reception facilities, but they nonetheless represent a starting point.

Under the new Migration and Asylum Pact, whose regulation is known as RAMM (Regulation on Asylum and Migration Management), the 27 member states of the European Union have currently reached a provisional agreement on mandatory solidarity with flexibility. Under it, each country will have its own leeway to decide whether to take in individuals directly from countries of first arrival or provide a financial contribution for each not resettled migrant, the estimate of which is around 20,000 euros.

The dossier on this agreement is currently in a negotiation phase involving the three main European institutions. The European Parliament is pushing for compulsory solidarity to provide for an automatic redistribution of 80 percent of migrants among EU countries, thus allowing countries to refuse resettlements and, in that case, to offer financial aid or equipment to countries under greater pressure to accept migrants, all in the remaining 20 percent of cases. The hope is that this refined proposal for a voluntary redistribution mechanism can serve as a prologue to a final agreement that would provide some form of mandatory solidarity among EU countries. If this proposal is approved and implemented, it is expected that an already well-tested redistribution system could prove invaluable in addressing the challenges of managing migration flows within the European Union.

Translated by Denise Praticò.

Mondo Internazionale APS - Reproduction Reserved ® 2023

Bibliography:  

https://www.migrationdataportal.org/regional-data-overview/europe

https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_22_5985

https://www.eunews.it/2023/09/05/mezzo-milione-di-richieste-asilo-in-ue/

https://www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2022/11/11/news/migranti_accordo_affossato_francia-373997403/

https://it.euronews.com/my-europe/2023/09/04/i-nodi-irrisolti-dellue-prima-delle-elezioni

https://www.eunews.it/2023/09/08/quasi-3-mila-migranti-redistribuiti-ue/

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