The negotiations on the European Migration Pact took an important step forward this Thursday with the change in Germany’s position (uncomfortable in the current difficult context in the role of an obstacle to the agreement, it stopped blocking the last pending regulation) and, immediately, another back courtesy of Italy (in theory minor and the result of the political tactics of the Giorgia Meloni Government), which distanced itself from the text negotiated by the Spanish presidency of the Council and blocked the agreement at the last minute.
“We are missing a few more hours” of talks but “we are convinced that in the coming days we will have a political mandate to negotiate with the European Parliament,” said Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska, acting president of the Council, at the end. of the meeting, held in parallel to political contacts at the highest level between Brussels, Berlin, Madrid and Rome on the urgency of giving a sign of unity in a context as delicate as the current one as a consequence of the upsurge in irregular arrivals and demands of asylum.
“We will assume our responsibilities and accept the compromise brilliantly negotiated by Spain,” the German Interior Minister, Nancy Faeser, announced by surprise at midday during a public debate. According to the German press, the order to change the position on the crisis management regulation, one of the most delicate pieces of the reform of the EU asylum system, came directly from Chancellor Olaf Scholz.
The minimal revisions to the last compromise proposal presented by the Spanish presidency met the demands of the German delegation and Grande-Marlaska, optimistic, concluded that there was “an incontestable majority” in favor of the proposal and that in the next few hours the text would be sent to the ambassadors of the Twenty-seven to ratify the agreement. The negotiations, however, have stalled at the political level and the governments’ diplomatic representatives in Brussels are not expected to address the issue until Monday. The matter, Grande-Marlaska maintains, will be resolved “before the Granada summit”, that is, the informal European Council that will take place in this city on Friday.
As diplomatic sources warned before the meeting, the text is so “balanced” that “if you move an inch to win over one member state you can lose another on the other side.” This is what happened this Thursday, although the impression among the negotiators is that the Italian blockade responds more to tactical reasons of Minister Matteo Piantedosi, Matteo Salvini’s former chief of staff, than to real problems.
The Italian Government does not agree with some of the changes introduced in the text of the regulation to satisfy Germany’s demands, especially the point that clarifies that NGOs cannot be accused of “instrumentalizing” immigration “when there is no objective.” to destabilize the EU or a member state.” This text covers a gap that could have been interpreted by Rome in the opposite sense and can be interpreted as a technical matter but its political significance is evident.
The role of NGOs is precisely the cause of the latest clash between both countries. Meloni wrote to Scholz a few days ago to express his “astonishment” that the German Government “has decided to provide important funds to NGOs that work in the reception of irregular immigrants in Italian territory and in rescues in the Mediterranean.” Rome also does not accept the article on the guarantees of reception conditions for refugees in the event of a crisis that the text now proposes, higher than in its previous version.
The Spanish presidency and the European Commissioner for the Interior, Ylva Johansson, hope to resolve these issues at a technical level in the coming days and thus prevent the matter from reaching the table of European leaders in Granada. The common position of the governments on this regulation is not the end of the road but it will allow negotiations to be opened with the European Parliament to close the final texts of the reform. The goal is to finish before the end of the current legislature. Time is of the essence but it is not clear whether the desperate situations experienced in the Mediterranean will ultimately be an incentive for the agreement or an obstacle.
