Reinforcing the Fortress: Commission’s priority actions for the refugee situation

Summary:

The EU’s response to the refugee situation has included the deployment of warships, plans for mass refoulement and the possible introduction of “one-for-one” schemes, none of which were mentioned in the priority actions proposed by the European Commission in February 2016.

The priority actions, entitled the ‘State of Play of Implementation of the Priority Actions under the European Agenda on Migration’ aims to address the refugee situation by way of a number of priority actions.

Each new plan proposed follows a number of failures by the Member States to manage migration in line with previous plans agreed at European level. These include the failure of some Member States to transpose essential EU laws such as the Reception Conditions Directive, the Asylum Procedures Directive and the Return Directive effectively; the failure of Member States to match EU funding for migration-related initiatives; the failure to relocate and resettle the agreed number of refugees; and the failure to successfully set up and activate the “hotspots”, to name but a few.

Despite these ongoing problems, the Commission is nevertheless optimistic that they can be overcome and that the proposed measures will “restore order to the migration system and impose control of the irregular and uncontrolled flows through the Eastern Mediterranean / Western Balkans route before the spring”.