Summit: EU leaders to focus on protecting external borders

EU leaders will again focus on migration at their last summit this year, starting Thursday (17 December). They will concentrate efforts on salvaging the passport-free Schengen zone, after 1 million people seeking refuge made it to the bloc so far this year.

The year has seen divisions deepen between frontline states in the south struggling to protect external borders and destination countries in the north that want to stop the flow, an initially more welcoming western Europe and more closed eastern member states.

EU leaders meeting in Brussels will focus on implementing previous decisions, such as setting up hotspots, relocating refugees from other member states, fingerprinting new arrivals, and making sure that countries return people who were not granted asylum.

“No one should have illusions, the priority needs to be regaining control over our external borders,” an EU official said.

As thousands continue to arrive to Greece every day, reception capacities of hotspots in Italy and Greece are still in the low hundreds, while fingerprinting new people according to EU rules is still random.

Member states have been dragging their feet in living up to earlier commitments.

Some also argue that policies, such as relocation - distributing refugees among EU member states to share the burden - simply do not function.

“The whole system is designed in a way that is not working,” an EU diplomat said.

However, the draft conclusions of the summit, seen by EUobserver, warn grimly: “For the Schengen acquis to be preserved it is indispensable to regain control over the external borders.”

'Noble, amusing'

Leaders will have a chance to give their first reaction to the EU commission’s proposal on beefing up external border protection with a new border guard agency that could be deployed in emergency situations to border sections under pressure without the consent of the member state concerned.

The proposal faces resistance from countries, most vocally from Hungary and Poland, as it requires member states to partly give up a core national sovereignty - border protection.

However, the commission argues that quick EU help is needed in crisis situations even when the member state is reluctant or unable to act, as in the recent case of Greece.

Germany is throwing its weight behind the proposal, with chancellor Angela Merkel i saying Wednesday that the 28 members of the bloc should work together toward a “common European and international answer to sustainably reduce the number of refugees.”

“Sealing oneself off is not a sensible option in the 21st century," she told parliament, referring to countries trying to stem the flow of people with fences.

“That's why we must resist the temptation to fall back on national solutions,” she was quoted as saying by AFP.

While some member states agree with sharing assets, others remain concerned about sharing power with Brussels, as common efforts have so far showed little results with countries resorting to unilateral measures.

“There is a good reason to go ahead and share responsibility,” an EU diplomat said before the summit.

He likened the sharing of capabilities to recent efforts by eurozone members to create common buffers against further economic crises.

“If countries are in trouble it is clear we need to have imput from the European side, some resources need to be shared,” he added.

Others argue it is too little, too late.

“The proposal is noble, imaginative, part of the commission’s effort to raise the spirits and make the end of the year more amusing,” quipped an official, arguing that measures are needed which can be implemented now and not in 2020, when the new EU borders agency would be fully operational.

“We need to deploy people there now, instantly,” said the official.