EU ‘running out of time’ on migration reform: EU commissioner

BRUSSELS

The European Commission warned on Wednesday that the bloc is “running out of time” to reform the migration policy, and called on EU members and lawmakers to give the green light to the new EU migration and asylum pact.

Speaking at the plenary session of the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, the vice-president of the EU Commission in charge of the migration and asylum pact, Margaritis Schinas, stressed that “history is watching” the European Union.

He called on lawmakers and EU capitals to greenlight the new pact before next year’s EU parliamentary elections.

If the EU fails to agree on the reform that has been prepared since 2016, “we will give fuel to the false claims made by the enemies of democracy, by Russian disinformation that Europe is incapable of managing migration,” Schinas underlined.

According to the EU commissioner, the loopholes in the bloc’s migration policy are “probably the biggest pull factor” for people smugglers and irregular migration.

He also asserted that the EU pays the price for the absence of a unified EU policy as it reacts “to different events on a case-by-case basis with ad hoc tools and in a patchwork regulatory environment.”

The legal package, among others, sets up a common EU border procedure with a fast check to see if migrant would be eligible for international protection before entering the bloc, and speeds up return procedures for those whose claim is refused.

It also imposes mandatory solidarity obliging EU member states to take over asylum-seekers if an EU country comes under heavy migratory pressure.

The pact also focuses on setting up partnerships with countries of origin and transit.

EU ambassadors discussed on Wednesday the so-called “crisis measures,” the most controversial part of the package.

EU member states were expected to reach a deal last week but the agreement failed because of the dispute between Germany and Italy.