Proposal for a Council Decision establishing provisional measures in the area of international protection for the benefit of Italy and Greece

The European Commission presented a comprehensive European Agenda on Migration on 13 May 2015, outlining, on the one hand, the immediate measures that will be proposed by the Commission to respond to the crisis situation in the Mediterranean and, on the other, the medium and long term initiatives that need to be taken to provide structural solutions for better managing migration in all its aspects. As part of the immediate measures, the Commission announced that, by the end of May, it will propose a mechanism to trigger the emergency response system envisaged under Article 78(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU).

The Agenda acknowledged that today Member States’ asylum systems face an unprecedented pressure and that with the volumes of arrivals in particular to frontline Member States, their reception and processing capacities are already stretched to their limits. The proposal to trigger Article 78(3) will include a temporary distribution scheme for persons in clear need of international protection to ensure a fair and balanced participation of all Member States to this common effort. A redistribution key was included in the Annex to the Agenda, based on the criteria referred to therein (GDP, size of population, unemployment rate and past numbers of asylum seekers and of resettled refugees).

Italy’s and Greece’s geographical situation, with the ongoing conflicts in the region of their immediate neighbourhood, makes them more vulnerable than the other Member States in the immediate future with unprecedented flows of migrants expected to continue to reach their territories. These external factors of increased migratory pressure add to the existing structural shortcomings in their asylum systems, putting further into question their ability to deal in an adequate manner with this situation of high pressure.

None of the other Member States currently appear in an emergency situation like the one experienced by Italy and Greece with similar peaks in the numbers of irregular arrivals with a high proportion of persons in clear need of international protection, coupled with a serious vulnerability of their asylum systems. Therefore, the current migratory landscape in Italy and Greece is unique in the EU and the strain on their capacity to process applications for international protection and to provide adequate reception conditions and integration perspectives to persons in clear need of international protection requires all the other Member States to show solidarity.

Developments in the migratory flows will continue to be closely monitored by the Commission with regard to all Member States, including Malta, which, due to its similar geographic situation to Italy and Greece, has handled similar emergencies in the past. Therefore, similar measures can be triggered in the future in respect of those Member States which may be confronted by an emergency situation characterised by a sudden inflow of nationals of third countries.

• Primary Source

EUR-Lex: COM(2015)286: Follow the progress of this proposal through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2015:286:FIN

ESO: Background information: European Commission makes progress on Agenda on Migration http://www.europeansources.info/record/press-release-european-commission-makes-progress-on-agenda-on-migration/

ESO: Background information: Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions - A European Agenda on Migration http://www.europeansources.info/record/communication-from-the-commission-to-the-european-parliament-the-council-the-european-economic-and-social-committee-and-the-committee-of-the-regions-a-european-agenda-on-migration/

EUR-Lex: COM(2015)238: Proposal for a Decision of the European Parliament and of the Council on the mobilisation of the Flexibility Instrument for the provisional measures in the area of international protection for the benefit of Italy and Greece http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=COM:2015:238:FIN

ESO: Information Guide: European Migration Challenges http://www.europeansources.info/record/information-guide-european-migration-challenges/

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