The external meeting of the CoR's CIVEX Commission – held at the invitation of PES member Javier Fernandez Fernandez, president of the Asturias region, in Oviedo (Spain) –focused mainly on migration. The adoption of the draft opinion on the reform proposals for the EU's system of allocating responsibility for asylum procedures between EU Member States (the "Dublin system"), by PES member Enzo Bianco, mayor of Catania (Italy), took centre-stage.
For many years, this system, which is based on the idea that the EU country of first entry should be responsible for processing migrants' applications for asylum, has been putting a disproportionate burden on the countries of southern Europe, notably Greece and Italy. During last year's mass arrival of migrants – many of them from war-torn areas in the Near East – the system was pushed to breaking point. The European Commission has now put forward a series of proposals to review the Dublin system, as well as other parts of the EU asylum system.
In his opinion on the first set of proposals (published by the European Commission in May this year), Enzo Bianco underlines the need to move to a set of asylum rules which are fairer both for Member States and individual migrants, stating that "we are facing a structural crisis. We must have the courage to face it with sense of solidarity and responsibility. That is why we propose measures to protect fundamental rights, of children in particular".
The opinion also proposes a distribution key "correction mechanism," (based on relative wealth and population) – relating to the allocation of responsibility for asylum requests between Member States – in order to help countries and regions which have been disproportionately affected in the past. This proposal is crucial and will be debated again at the CoR plenary in December, when the opinion will be adopted.
Under the leadership of acting coordinator Peter Bossman, mayor of Piran (Slovenia), CIVEX members also supported a large number of PES amendments to the opinion by Olgierd Geblewicz (EPP/Poland), on the reform of the so-called 'Blue-Card System' which enables highly skilled migrants to access the EU labour. They did so in order to highlight the need for a European solution that is based on labour market needs and able to offer attractive conditions for migrants. With regard to the opinion by Karl Vanlouwe (EA/Belgium) on the EU's action plan for the integration of third country nationals, the PES supported the rejection of a series of amendments by non-aligned Lega Nord member Matteo Bianchi. Mr Bianchi was trying to deny the need for European level support to help migrants integrate and seeking to portray migration to the EU as nothing but a "burden". Finally, in relation to the opinion by CIVEX president Francois Decoster (ALDE/FR) regarding the Commission's REFIT programme to reduce administrative burden, a large number of PES amendments were adopted. These amendments highlighted – amongst other things – the joint political responsibility shared by all governance levels to reach compromises in order to ensure a peaceful coexistence in Europe.
The CIVEX Commission also held an exchange of views on Peter Bossman's opinion on the "New framework for partnership agreements with third countries", which stresses the need for a holistic and pragmatic approach to such agreements. This approach should have not only the EU's interests but also those of partner countries in mind.
The CIVEX meeting was followed by a conference on active European citizenship.
