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Last week at the European Council on migration, European Union (EU) leaders found an agreement as their reply to tackle the crisis in the Mediterranean. The measures agreed foresee:

• The relocation over two years of 40,000 in clear need of international protection arriving in Italy and Greece to other member states; contrary to what was announced by the European Commission in May, the relocation system will not be based on mandatory quotas.
• The resettlement of 20,000 displaced persons in clear need of international protection, reflecting the specific situations of member states.
• Accelerate readmission negotiations with the third countries by applying the “more for more” principle on trade and development agreements according to the following criteria: commitments set out in trade agreements regarding the temporary presence of persons for the provision of services should be used as an incentive to conclude readmission agreements; development of policy tools should reinforce local capacity building, including for border control, asylum, counter-smuggling and reintegration.
• Full implementation of EU rules on returns and giving more power to Frontex in helping to return irregular migrants.
• Reinforcement of our overall cooperation with countries of origin and transit, both on stemming the flows of irregular migrants and on tackling the root causes of migration so as to reduce the incentives for illegal migration and to combat the smuggling networks.

Against these measures, that seem to re-propose old solutions which already proved to be inefficient to guarantee due protection and respect of human rights, SOLIDAR stands once again to call upon EU leaders to change the paradigm of the EU migration policy: re-think it!

Besides the main recommendations formulated in the past months, SOLIDAR would like to invite EU leaders to reflect on the following approaches:

• Opening legal channels for people seeking international protection is the most effective way to offer humanitarian solution while fighting human smuggling! The resettlement of 20,000 displaced persons seems to be too modest compared to the number of refugees produced nowadays by turmoil and conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa region. The EU could do much more to protect people in danger by offering them concrete alternatives to dangerous boat trips. This would represent a strong deterrent to smuggling.
• Trade and development agreements shouldn’t contain any conditionality on migration! As SOLIDAR has been advocating for in the framework of the revision of the European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP), readmission negotiations and mobility partnership have sometimes been used to create a most favourable framework for the EU to pursue its external policy agenda founded on readmission and countering irregular migration. In particular, SOLIDAR thinks that applying the “more for more” principle to reward the capacity of countries to implement returns and increase border control can seriously undermine human rights. Development policy should be aimed at enabling the realisation of human rights, and give the partner countries a real chance for economic, social and cultural rights (ESCRs) and sustainable development, and not to be used as a way to stop migration.
• Investment in integration policies is the key to have a more open and inclusive society! Being so concentrated on blocking or downsizing the migration flow towards EU borders, the measures proposed seem to underestimate the importance of harmonising protection standards and guaranteeing equal treatment to migrants, asylum seekers and refugees living in the EU territory. Integration means access to social, health, care and education services. Both the EU Agenda proposed by the Commission and the conclusions of the last European Council lack concrete and credible measures to promote integration in EU societies and equal opportunities for migrants.

These reflections are based on the experience of SOLIDAR members in the field and arise from a very fruitful discussion on the EU’s migration policy and the challenges of non-governmental organisations working with migrants held among SOLIDAR members and partners during a study visit to its Spanish member Movimiento por la paz (MPDL) in Madrid. You can find the activity report of this study visit here.

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