The UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) has been «optimistic» about the possibility of the EU reaching a pact on migration and asylum before February 2024, for which it trusts in the «leadership» of Spain, taking advantage of its presidency of the bloc in 2023.
«We encourage negotiation,» said in an interview with Europa Press the UN deputy high commissioner for refugees, Gillian Triggs, referring to an initiative aimed at increasing solidarity among member states and claimed, mainly, by countries with external borders.
The problems of several EU countries to manage the arrival of thousands of refugees in 2015, especially Italy and Greece, led the European Commission to try to push for a reform of migration and asylum policy that would redefine the principles of solidarity and responsibility in the reception of migrants arriving irregularly to the Union.
The differences between the southern countries, such as Spain and Italy, which demand greater solidarity from partners further away from the common external border, and those, such as Hungary and Poland, which flatly refuse to accept refugees arriving from other EU members, have brought the reform to a standstill.
The Community Executive resumed the reform in 2020 with a new ‘Migration Pact’ with which it proposes a solidarity that allows the most reluctant countries to compensate with other means – economic or logistical – their refusal to share the burden of reception. The negotiations are still encountering resistance, but the EU-27 have managed to resolve some of the stumbling blocks, allowing them to think about a possible agreement before the end of 2023.
Triggs is confident that, if a complete pact as such is not reached, at least some «elements» will be agreed upon that will allow progress to be made towards «shared responsibility» among the entire EU, given that he considers that there are «positive signs».
The number two of UNHCR has praised the role in this context of Spain, which faces «significant challenges» that derive mainly from North Africa. She trusts that the Spanish authorities will continue to work to grant protection «quickly» to those who need it and that, if not, they will be expelled «appropriately and safely».
Triggs admitted that «some countries use migrants for political purposes», a «global concern» that she did not want to personalize, questioned in particular about the alleged role of the Moroccan authorities in the migratory upsurges.
UNPRECEDENTED FIGURES At the end of 2021, there were more than 89 million forcibly displaced people worldwide, either within the borders of their own country or already in other countries. Triggs warned of «unprecedented numbers» that may continue to worsen in the wake of conflict or climate change.
The war in Ukraine has contributed to give «visibility» to this «global phenomenon», according to the head of UNHCR, who has applauded the protection provided by the EU to these refugees. However, she also called for the «underlying causes» behind this and other mass movements to be resolved, as this is what is needed to stop the cycle.
Triggs did not want to evaluate specific cases such as Italy, but he did acknowledge the «concern» that some countries that once promoted international asylum policies «are now moving away from those principles».
Migrations, moreover, have also become a breeding ground for messages of «fear» that are spread, according to Triggs, «usually without evidence». In this sense, he called for the discourse to be turned around, because in reality there are countries that «need» this group.
Thus, he called to move from the «negative aspects», from the «concern», to emphasize the «resources» that migrants can represent to reinforce the labor force or to compensate for the decline in the birth rate in increasingly «aging» societies.
