EU row brewing as new migrant crisis plan set to cause FURY for frontline states

EU row brewing as new migrant crisis plan set to cause FURY for frontline states

Five EU members – Italy, Spain, Greece, Cyprus and Malta – are pushing back against the proposed overhaul of the Dublin Regulation, which could see them being responsible for asylum seekers for 10 years.

Under the current system a refugee or migrant who enters an EU country must register in that country. They then cannot seek asylum somewhere elsewhere for a period of six months.

Bulgaria, which currently holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the EU, has proposed to increase this initial period from six months to ten years.

Many EU countries do not want a repeat of the previous migration crisis in 2015 and 2016 and the Bulgarian proposal, backed by Germany and Sweden, also seeks reconsider mandatory quotas for countries to take in a certain number of refugees.

Mandatory quotas were temporarily introduced during the height of the migrant crisis but were bitterly opposed by some EU members, most notably Poland and Hungary.

Some EU members are opposed to Brussels forcing countries to accept refugees, or to set new restrictions on how asylum seekers might be returned to the first EU country they entered.

When the EU ended the quota system in September last year, it had transferred less than 28,000 refugees, which is considerably short of its target of 160,000 people.

This current opposition to the Bulgarian proposal put in jeopardy a deal being agreed by June’s summit of European leaders.

A senior diplomat from one of the frontline states said: “It would be very difficult to reach a deal by June as we are not willing to accept a Dublin system we perceive as unbalanced.”

Another diplomat told Politico: “We want a deal by June because the presidency that comes next is Austria, which has extremely conservative views on Dublin and migration and borders.

“If we don’t get a deal by the summer we will lose credibility vis-à-vis public opinion and we cannot afford that because it would fuel support for populist and extremist parties across the country.”

The new proposal would look to impose quotas only at a time if refugee numbers spike, to reduce the risk of setting off another crisis.

The five EU countries opposed to overhaul of migration rules have laid out their plans in a three-page position paper, politico reports.

The manifesto lays out 13 concerns with the Bulgarian proposal and underscores how EU countries are scarred and divided by the migration crisis, claims politico.

The 10 year duration of “state responsibility” puts the countries where refugees first arrive on the hook and according to one EU diplomat “will result in the responsibility of asylum and border control to be completely on the shoulders of southern border states” in a move the diplomat adds “is not fair.”

A spokeswoman for the Bulgarian presidency said that disagreements are to be expected and that an member states are working towards an agreement.

A Bulgarian presidency spokeswoman said: “Dublin reform is a priority.

“We have been working very hard in finding the right balance as our leaders instructed us.

“We are very happy that those countries take active part in the negotiations and have a constructive approach.”

As for the three-page paper from the southern EU member sates, the spokeswoman said: “This is not the first paper and probably won’t be the last one.

“We as a presidency welcome everything and try and analyse it.”

, https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/951970/EU-migrant-crisis-italy-spain-greece-refugee-quota

http://asylumireland.ml/eu-row-brewing-as-new-migrant-crisis-plan-set-to-cause-fury-for-frontline-states/