Spanish Presidency seeks migration deal by year-end, though divisions persist

The Spanish EU presidency aims at conclude negotiation on the migration reform package, a series of laws on migration management, before the end of the year, multiple sources from the Council of Ministers and the European Parliament confirmed to Euractiv.

The pact on migration and asylum is a group of legislative files the EU is trying to approve before the end of the mandate, which will be concluded in early June with the European elections, to give the whole continent the same rules on migration flows management from the first arrival of third country nationals into EU member states.

Most of the files under discussion are interlinked. For this reason, it is important for the Spanish presidency “to approve them all together,” a diplomatic source told Euractiv.

The Spanish government currently holds the six month rotating presidency of the Council of Ministers, the institution where EU ministers act as ‘co-legislator’ with the European Parliament. 

Concluding the talks on the migration pact is “a priority for the Spanish presidency” a diplomatic source told Euractiv, saying that in internal meetings of the Council the issue ranks daily high in the agenda. 

However, different challenges are still ahead of negotiators, since the pact is subjected to heavy political pressure by the member states, and it remains a sensitive issue in many countries.

“Negotiations are ongoing but could derail at any moment. There is a strong political attention on migration these days by member states,” the diplomatic source confirmed to Euractiv.

Discussions are still ongoing on the Screening regulation, a legislative file that would regulate registration procedures of first arrivals at EU borders across the whole continent.

The European Parliament and the Council have disagreements on provisions regarding protection of human rights during the screening process. 

“The trilogues on the Screening regulation are advancing steadily, but some key issues are still open,” the socialist German MEP Birgit Sippel, who is negotiating the regulation on behalf of the European Parliament, told Euractiv.

“Among these open issues are the monitoring mechanism for fundamental rights and the issue of screening within the territory, which is concerning due to the possibility of racial profiling and guarantees for minors in the screening,” said Sippel.

“On the latter, Member States seem unwilling to accept the Parliament’s proposal to provide all unaccompanied minors in the Screening with a representative. Since the Screening is critical in determining the future procedures of the persons concerned, supporting minors is of high importance to me,” she added.

A similar pattern occurred during the negotiation at the Council of the crisis management regulation, as the German government tried to introduce more protection in the procedures for minors.

“This pact can only work if it works for children. It cannot weaken access to protection,” Save the Children Europe advisor Federica Toscano told Euractiv.

“While it is important to have an EU framework to manage migration at the EU levels, it does not mean that the pact has to be approved at the expense of the most vulnerable,” she added.

European People’s Party President Manfred Weber told Euractiv that he “regretted that the socialists are blocking the negotiations,” adding that for his centre-right group, approval of the pact before the end of the legislature is a priority.

Negotiations will continue deep into December, with pivotal trilogues meetings that will be held on 18-19 December.

If the EU is unable to deliver the migration pact before the end of the mandate, it would be the second time in ten years that the continent fails to strike a deal on an EU framework to manage migration.

[Edited by Benjamin Fox]

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