The Government of Pedro Sánchez had full confidence in the fact that the last piece of the European Union’s migration reform, the crisis management regulation, would be sealed in Spain three days before the general elections. However, this success – if it comes – will have to wait. The informal meeting that the European interior ministers held yesterday in Logronyo, as part of the Spanish six-month presidency, ended without white smoke in the most difficult aspect: the solidarity mechanisms that must govern the EU when massive influxes of migrants take place.
Before the meeting began, the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, had already assumed that the final approval would not be given to Logronyo. Even so, he was “confident” that this month the position of the Council of Ministers of the Interior, which must set a position to start negotiations with the Eurochamber, will be finalized. However, at the end of the meeting, in a press conference, he lowered these temporary expectations.
The main bottleneck facing the European partners at this point is that not all countries agree on the distribution of migrants who may arrive en masse in Europe. These member states are Poland and Hungary, which are ruled by ultra-conservatives. “There has been no change in the positions of Hungary and Poland, the differences are of concept, of how the principles of responsibility and solidarity should be conceived”, he declared.
The Spanish minister pointed out that they are in the “final stretch” and that an answer must be given, albeit “without falling into haste and urgency”. “It is an irrevocable pact”, he pointed out. The idea is for the final signature of the pact to be initialed before the end of this European legislature. The elections will be on June 9, 2024.
It was the European Commissioner for the area, Ilva Johansson, who at the subsequent press conference played down the importance of the Hungarian and Polish attitude when she recalled that unanimity is not needed to approve the long-awaited migration pact.
Johansson wanted to wink at Spain – after assuring that there is “trust between the States” to go ahead with the plan – and predicted that “we will be able to manage the migration crisis in the Canary Islands together”. Although this route is currently in decline, it is one of the deadliest.
At the meeting of interior officials, the major security challenges that all European police are on alert for were also addressed: the fight against organized crime with special attention to drug trafficking, cybercrime as a transnational struggle and the consequences of the war in Ukraine, with a focus on the monitoring of illicit arms and people trafficking.
Today it will be the turn of the European Ministers of Justice, who plan to analyze the mechanisms for better protection and care for victims of crime and the improvement of the accessibility of justice in the 21st century, especially thinking about people with disabilities. Also, the responses expected from the field of justice to the challenges arising from the growing threat that organized crime poses to EU citizens will complete the agenda of this meeting.
