Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1292560
8 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 SEPTEMBER 2020 INTERVIEW We have heard many promises of a migration pact from the European Union over the years. Yet so far, it has always proven impossible for all 27 member states to ever agree on a com- mon strategy. Do you think it will be any different this time round? Overall, the EU Pact on Migra- tion and Asylum is not new. It reinforces the focus on migra- tion control at the external bor- der, as well as prioritizing depor- tations and 'partnerships' with countries outside of the EU, like Libya, regardless of conditions and human rights abuses people might face in those countries. In sum, the aim, as Commission vice-president Margaritis Schi- nas commented in early Septem- ber, is 'to keep people… in their countries'. The document suffers from a belief in a mythical, 'efficient' border, described in sterile, bu- reaucratic language that makes invisible the violence inherent in 21st century borders and mi- gration controls. For instance, the Pact proposes a 'rapid exam- ination' of asylum claims before people are allowed entry into EU territory. The ways that 'rapid examination' might undermine a robust protection system that fairly assesses individual claims are not discussed. Similarly, President von der Leyen rolled out this Pact against the backdrop of the devastating fire in Moria, the EU's largest and extremely overcrowded ref- ugee camp in Greece, and framed the Pact as a way to prevent such events. However, the emphasis on control at the external bor- der and on 'pre-screening' will in fact likely lead to more people being held in violent conditions in detention and in camps like Moria. The focus on 'efficiency' also belies the fact that the EU and its member states spend bil- lions on migration and border controls that do not stop people from coming. For its 2021-2027 budget, the Commission is pro- posing to almost triple funding for migration and border man- agement to €34.9 billion. Despite the enormous resources poured into border control, people still make the journey to Europe, and too many still die en route: since 2014, over 20,000 people have died crossing the Mediterrane- an Sea in search of a better life, most in the Central Mediter- ranean. Under the broad arc of this new Pact, these facts will not change. The Pact also gives priority to partnerships and cooperation with countries of origin and transit. The ongoing partnership between the EU and the Libyan Coastguard reveals the lack of consideration given to migrants and their rights in such partner- ships. The abuses and dangers faced by migrants and refugees in Libya are well documented, including enforced disappear- ances, indefinite and arbitrary detention, torture and extortion. Yet, over 8,000 people have been captured at sea and forcibly re- turned to Libya this year alone. The EU's complicity in returning people to this war-torn country makes a mockery of our osten- sible commitment to human rights and refugee protection. We also know these types of 'partnerships', as well as border controls, do not stop migration. They make migrant journeys longer and more dangerous. They encourage the smuggling business that this Pact purports to be fighting. The pact also envisages a 'man- datory solidarity' mechanism, after various voluntary mecha- nisms had clearly failed. Do you interpret this an admission that solidarity, at EU level, doesn't really exist? In terms of internal affairs, the Pact tackles the question of sol- idarity amongst member states by proposing an Asylum and Migration Management Regu- lation, which would replace the Dublin Regulation. This includes a new mandato- ry, yet 'flexible' solidarity mech- anism that is calculated on GDP and population. Under the pro- posal, member states will be able to show 'solidarity' through: (1) the relocation of people from other member states; (2) 're- turn sponsorship', providing 'all necessary support' to a member state to deport people 'who have no right to stay'; and/or (3) im- mediate operational support. Although this approach is meant to capture the different positions of member states on relocation within the EU, big questions remain as to how this will work in practice, especially if particular states want to show 'solidarity' only through 'return sponsorships' – paying the cost to deport people from front- line states. One can easily im- agine a reversion to the ad-hoc system in place now. Indeed, three members of the Visegrád Group – Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic – rejected the new Pact the day after it was launched. What is glaringly absent in the Pact is any mention of the peo- ple coming to Europe to look for a better life as subjects in their own right, rather than just ob- jects to be controlled. Their pref- erences to be in particular mem- ber states – because of friends, extended family, employment or education opportunities – are entirely neglected. These prefer- ences have an impact on where and how they travel as well as on their long-term integration prospects. One of the criticisms levelled at this plan is that it focuses too much on forced returns, and too little on integration. Yet re- cent statistics suggest that the percentage of asylum seekers who do not qualify for protec- tion has increased significant- ly since 2018; according to EU Home Affairs Commissioner Jo- hansen, genuine refugees are 'now a minority'. If this is so, shouldn't part of the strategy involve returning those who do not qualify to their home coun- tries? There has been increasing talk within the EU of this kind of 'trade-off': that the EU's ability to give refugee protection rests on the EU's ability to deport people who do not qualify for protection. This is a dangerous and unproductive framework to understand what is happening within the EU. European member states have an international legal commit- ment to refugee protection, ir- respective of their deportation practices. Yet, what we see in Europe today is a hollowing out of refugee protection – as those who would seek asylum on our shores must first endure long and dangerous journeys, and A return to 'Fortress Raphael Vassallo rvassallo@mediatoday.com.mt The European Commission has just unveiled a 'New Pact on Migration and Asylum'; but CETTA MAINWARING – researcher and author of 'At Europe's Edge: Migration and Crisis in the Mediterranean' – argues that there is nothing really 'new' about the EU's approach