Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/997322
27 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 24 JUNE 2018 THE fate of the Aquarius, a 'Doctors without Borders' rescue ship left stranded for hours in the Mediterranean, carrying 629 African migrants, is a stark reminder of the EU's ongoing stalemate on asylum policy. The new Italian interior min- ister, Matteo Salvini, ordered ports to refuse docking to the ship, prompting a rhetorical revolt by several Italian may- ors. Malta also refused dock- ing, claiming that the rescue occurred in the Libya search and rescue zone. As the ship's supplies were running out, Spain's new Prime Minister, Pedro Sanchez, stepped up to the plate and authorised dock- ing in Valencia. The ducking of responsibility highlights the perilous state of the EU's Common European Asylum System, set out in article 78 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and comes just weeks before the European Council convenes in Brussels, with "migration" high on the agen- da. A meeting in early June of EU interior ministers failed to reach agreement on necessary reforms to the rules which govern sharing of responsibil- ity for those who claim asylum when reaching EU shores. The EU's asylum system faces three fundamental, and interrelated, challenges. First, the equitable allocation of responsibility for assessing asylum claims and providing protection under EU law. Sec- ond, the harmonisation and standardisation of how these decisions are made. And third, freedom of movement of "beneficiaries of international protection" namely, those en- titled to refugee or subsidiary protection status. The default position, sub- ject to humanitarian excep- tions, under what has become known as the "Dublin III" regulation – is that the first EU member state whose bor- der an asylum seeker has "ir- regularly" crossed is responsi- ble for processing their asylum claim and providing them with reception conditions. They are then responsible to host those who are recognised as "benefi- ciaries of international protec- tion". Notably, under Dublin III, the obligation rests on the member state, not the asylum seekers. Some asylum seek- ers may wish instead to join relatives or friends in another country, or to reach a country with a welcoming – and func- tioning – asylum system. Dublin III has dispropor- tionately affected "frontier" member states, particularly Greece and Italy. But it also creates a perverse incentive for a member state not to recognise asylum seekers, given that after being recog- nised, they are then unable to move freely between member states. For this reason, I have previously advocated for the creation of an "EU protection space" where beneficiaries of international protection can exercise mobility rights. Emergency relocation, glacial pace Following the "emergency situation" in 2015, which, to borrow the EU's treaty language, was "characterised by a sudden inflow" of "third country nationals", in Sep- tember 2015, the European Council adopted two decisions – 2015/1523 and 2015/1601 – mandating relocation of asylum seekers from Greece and Italy to other mem- ber states based on quotas. Hungary, which was originally supposed to benefit from such relocation as well, refused to co-operate with the scheme. Relocation – which is dif- ferent to resettlement – was intended for asylum seekers already in the EU. The way the scheme was designed meant that it was mainly Syrians, Eri- treans, or Somalis who were eligible for relocation. The quota of people each mem- ber state was allocated was calculated using a formula. This was weighted 40% on its population, 40% on its GDP, 10% on the number of asylum seekers it already hosted, and 10% on its unemployment level. Article 80 of the EU's Lisbon Treaty stipulates that EU policy shall be "governed by the principle of solidarity and fair sharing of responsibil- ity". Nevertheless, the emer- gency relocation scheme faced resistance from the Visegrad group of Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Slovakia. This forced the commission to initiate infringement proceed- ings against the Czech Repub- lic, Hungary, and Poland. Its March 2018 report noted that, two and half years since the scheme began, 34,000 people have been relocated. It also called on all member states to "consider continuing reloca- tions on a voluntary basis, beyond the emergency reloca- tion schemes" which have now been concluded. Where next? In its May 2018 progress re- port on the implementation of the European Agenda on Mi- gration, the European Com- mission noted that, after a peak of over 1.2m applications per year in 2015 and 2016, the 28 EU member states saw less than 0.7m applications in 2017. There are still proposals on the table about how to reform Dublin III. In a November 2017 report, the European Parliament advocated a radical overhaul of the Dublin rules, based on automatic asylum seeker allocation criteria. This would be based on the GDP of a member state, as well as humanitarian grounds (family, cultural or social ties), lan- guage skills, and professional skills. However, the ambition of the EU's institutions to reform the rules appears a far cry from that of many of its members. No agreement on a way forward was reached at the meeting in early June where EU interior ministers discussed a compromise proposal to tweak some of the existing exceptions to the first EU country of entry rule. The Bulgarian minister of interior described "a frank discus- sion on fundamental aspects of the asylum reform". But with Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta and Spain critical of the limited nature of the proposed reforms, and the Visegrad group states in opposition to mandatory relocation, the EU remains in stalemate over a way forward. The Aquarius confrontation suggests that the best that can be expected from the June 28- 29 European Council summit is a fudge. In July, Austria's Chancellor, Sebastian Kurz, takes the reins of the rotating presidency of the EU Council. Given his rhetoric, a European "right to asylum" – set out in Article 18 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights – seems to be sailing away. Asylum seekers are now political pawns in a disharmonious EU Ruvi Ziegler Ruvi Ziegler is Associate Professor in International Refugee Law, University of Reading TheConversation.eu