Ten boats with more than 900 migrants arrived in the Spanish archipelago of the Canary Islands between Thursday and Friday of this week, after traveling what is considered one of the most dangerous migratory routes in the world.
(Also read: The conclusions left by the summit of European Union leaders in Granada)
This wave was added to that on Tuesday, when 280 migrants arrived on the island of El Hierro, the westernmost of the archipelago, in a single boat.
For several weeks there has been a significant increase in migrant arrivals to that archipelago, located off the northwest coast of the African continent.
This week’s waves, however, coincided with the European Union (EU) summit in the Andalusian city of Granada, where on Friday the thorny issue of migration was addressed, added to the agenda after the crisis that broke out last September on the Italian island of Lampedusa with the arrival of some 10,000 migrants in just three days.
Expectations were high, since the ambassadors of the EU countries reached two days before, on Wednesday, a key agreement to advance the reform of the Migration and Asylum Pact, after three years of paralysis in the negotiations on that matter.
(Read also: Heroes: migrants rescued the survivors of the fatal bus accident in Venice)
The regulation, which still must be negotiated in the European Parliament, was approved by a qualified majority, with the abstentions of Austria, Slovakia and the Czech Republic and despite the opposition of Poland and Hungary.
It was precisely the opposition of Warsaw and Budapest to this pact that prevented the informal summit in Granada from approving on Friday a final declaration on migration supported by all member states and, in its place, the president of the European Council, Charles Michel, published your own text on the subject.
“We are not afraid of the dictates that come from Brussels and Berlin,” said during the summit the Polish Prime Minister, the nationalist Mateusz Morawiecki, who criticized the attempt to impose a system to “distribute illegal migrants” among the community countries.
His Hungarian counterpart, the conservative Viktor Orban, in his usual provocative tone, stated, for his part: “If they legally violate you, they force you to accept something you don’t like, how is it possible to reach a compromise, an agreement? It is impossible”.
The leaders of the 27 EU member states They did approve a joint declaration in Granada on the rest of the issues addressed at the summit, such as the expansion of the community club with the future entry of new member states, but the issue of migration was relegated, despite the fact that the EU is currently is faced with a wave of migration that this year alone, according to official figures as of August, is estimated at more than 160,000 irregular arrivals.
In his statement, the President of the European Council stated that migration “is a European challenge that requires a European response.” “Irregular migration needs to be addressed immediately and decisively. We will not allow smugglers to decide who enters the EU,” the text states.
Closer to the pact
The countries of the European Union reached an agreement on Wednesday on the Crisis Regulation, the last piece of the European Pact on Migration and Asylum that the States had not yet concluded. Italy, which had delayed approval last week, ended up giving in, although to move forward with that agreement the unanimity of all countries was not necessary.
So, The reform that the EU began to prepare four years ago was nearing completion. What was agreed must now be negotiated with a European Parliament that seems willing to accept it. If this happens, a definitive agreement will be reached on the immigration legislative package.
The reform seeks to implement a mechanism of mandatory solidarity between Member States if any of them face the massive arrival of migrants at their borders, as occurred during the Syrian refugee crisis of 2015 and 2016.
Governments can refuse to accept these distributed refugees, but must pay 20,000 euros for each one that is rejected.
The text, which also modifies traditional asylum procedures making them less protective of migrants, required a commitment to overcome German and Italian reluctance.
Precisely, the missing piece, a regulation on the treatment of asylum seekers in crisis situations, was the last obstacle.
If it comes into force, which would not be before 2025, migrants in an irregular situation may be detained without trial in centers established at the borders for up to 40 weeks.
Much faster study procedures for your applications will also be allowed. They will be in a ‘legal limbo’ that is now legalized, unless the Court of Justice of the EU says otherwise: They will have physically set foot on European territory, but they will have no right other than to wait locked up. for their asylum application to be processed.
Current regulations allow, at least formally, for these people to move while their application is being processed.
The European Commission applauded heartily because it hopes to meet its objective of having everything agreed before the next European elections, in June 2024. This was stated on Friday by the president of that executive body, Ursula von der Leyen, who described the agreement as “a crucial element of the immigration puzzle” and hoped that the “finish line” could be “crossed” quickly.
The ‘buts’ to the agreement
More cautious in its reaction was Amnesty International, which said on Wednesday that the agreement “risks leaving people stranded, detained or destitute along Europe’s borders” and that “will do nothing to improve the protection of asylum seekers in the EU.”
The organization asked that “the rush to reach an agreement does not lead to human rights being left aside in the process” and hoped that fundamental rights would be guaranteed.
Along these lines, Cecilia Estrada, director of the chair of refugees and forced migrants at the Comillas Pontifical University of Spain, said in an interview with EL TIEMPO that The pact includes “administrative measures that seek to stop immigration, but it cannot be stopped. When we stop safe routes, unsafe routes to migrate arise.”
According to Estrada, the pact “should talk about how to generate a safer route (to migrate) and how to create a mechanism that rescues people in danger of losing their lives at sea” because “everyone has the right to that mobility.”
WILLIAM MORENO HERNÁNDEZ AND IDAFE MARTÍN PÉREZ
INTERNATIONAL EDITORIAL
TIME
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