Speech: Remarks by First Vice-President Timmermans and Commissioner Avramopoulos at the Readout of the College Meeting of 4 May 2016

Met dank overgenomen van F.C.G.M. (Frans) Timmermans i, gepubliceerd op woensdag 4 mei 2016.

First Vice-President Frans Timmermans i:

Let me start by explaining where we are on visa liberalisation for Turkey.

First, I want to recall that visa liberalisation is part of the European Council's EU-Turkey Statement of the 18th of March. The common handling of the refugee crisis that was agreed at that occasion has clearly yielded results.

The intention was to put an end to the shameless exploitation of human suffering by ruthless criminals. We can now say that their business model is breaking down; fewer people are risking their lives by crossing the Aegean Sea. There are now on average less than 100 arrivals a day in the Greek islands, down from the thousands that we saw arriving in the autumn and even earlier this year.

The Turkey Facility is off to a promising start and helps provide better conditions for refugees. By the end of July we expect to allocate €1 billion in EU funding for their healthcare, education and food. We need to continue working closely with Turkey to protect these vulnerable people.

As you know, the EU's cooperation with Turkey, as decided by the European Council, is based on mutual commitments.

One of the commitments the European Council made was to speed up work on the previously agreed road map to achieve visa-free travel for Turkish citizens. Turkey indicated it would be able to accelerate all the reforms necessary to reach fulfilment of the benchmarks sooner than previously agreed.

This is a process based on a set of 72 clearly defined benchmarks which make sure that all the safeguards that should accompany visa-free travel are in place. These include strong guarantees on security and measures that prevent travellers from over-staying.

Over the last weeks, Turkey has made impressive progress. There is still work to be done as a matter of urgency but if Turkey sustains the progress made, and continues at the same pace, they can meet the remaining benchmarks.

This is why we are now in the position to put forward a proposal on the table which opens the way for the European Parliament and the Member States to decide to lift visa requirements, once the benchmarks have been met.

There is no free ride here, and we are clear about what remains to be done. There are 5 remaining benchmarks that we expect Turkey to meet by the end of June.

These 5 benchmarks consist of measures to prevent corruption; negotiating an operational agreement with Europol; offering judicial cooperation to all EU Member States; bringing data protection rules in line with EU standards; and revising the legislation on terrorism.

Another benchmark will be met on 1 June, when the EU-Turkey Readmission Agreement enters into force.

Turkey will be given until the end of the year to upgrade its passports, so that they meet the latest biometric standards.

But let me be very clear: in the meantime no Turkish citizen will enter the EU without a visa if they don’t have a biometric passport with their facial image and fingerprint data. And I want to stress that I would rather have somebody at my border with a biometric passport where I can be sure that the person carrying the passport, is actually the person mentioned in the passport, because I can check with facial recognition and fingerprints. Rather than a person with an old-fashioned passport and a paper-visa, where the guarantee that the person carrying the passport is the person mentioned in the passport is less strong than with a biometric passport. So I think that this is quite an achievement if we reach that level with biometric passports with Turkey.

Let me be very clear, the remaining benchmarks are challenging and important and will require political determination for Turkey to fulfil the commitments it undertook on the 18th of March.

We will now send our proposals to the European Parliament and the Council. This should make it possible to take a decision by the end of June, based on what Turkey will then have delivered.

On the basis of a number of discussions with Member States in recent weeks, we have also decided to propose strengthening the suspension mechanism for all countries that are granted visa-free travel. The mechanism would become easier to use by extending the possible grounds for suspension and by drastically speeding the process up. The Commission would also be able to trigger the mechanism on its own initiative.

Our cooperation with third countries is just one part of our work to achieve better and more sustainable management of migration - and by the way, we will present further ideas in June on how to work with third countries to tackle our common challenges.

I would now like to turn to the reform of our Common European Asylum System.

We need to make sure that people who need protection receive it. This is our moral duty and legal responsibility. But we need to rethink how this responsibility can be fairly shared.

We have seen in the past year how a few Member States were placed under incredible strain. This is a direct consequence of the shortcomings of the Dublin system in its current form. It was simply not designed to deal with situations such as these, where a large number of refugees arrive in a single country in a short period of time.

One month ago we presented options for reform, and we have now listened to the reactions of the European Parliament and the Member States in the Council.

The simple truth is that if Member States do not find a common approach to sharing the responsibility for the handling of the refugee crisis, at the end of the day not a single Member State will be able to handle that responsibility on its own. We either face this challenge together, or we give up on facing it at all. With dire consequences for all.

If there is no solidarity here, in a short period of time there will be no solidarity elsewhere, in other areas. And that will be a huge blow to the European project. And those countries that sometimes now refuse to show solidarity in this area should understand that what they are playing with is a more comprehensive approach to the way we share challenges, we share responsibilities and we share each other's difficulties. Which is, I think, since the beginning of European integration and cooperation, at the core of what it is to be European.

You don't turn your back on the problems of your neighbours, you share a common responsibility for a common solution. And that is why I believe that it is essential to make a proposal today that will make it possible for all Member States to take their responsibility. That is why I believe it is essential to present a proposal today that will make it possible for all Member States to take their responsibility.

That is why we need to introduce a corrective mechanism in our Dublin system. It will be triggered automatically, so that whenever a Member State has to face a disproportionate number of asylum applications, responsibility for new applicants - of all nationalities - will be transferred to other Member States. Once the pressure is relieved, that Member State will again take responsibility for new applicants.

Each Member State's share will be based on clear and simple criteria - population size and GDP. Their resettlement efforts will also be taken into account, in line with our objective to provide safe and legal pathways to Europe.

All Member States will be required to contribute and show solidarity. This may also take the form of financial solidarity. If - temporarily - a Member State does not relocate asylum applicants, they will need to support those who do.

We all know - just go and ask regional and local authorities in countries such as Germany, Austria, Finland, Sweden - that the costs on local and regional authorities is huge. And if a form of solidarity could be that those countries who do not take the refugees but see their part taken by another support financially the Member States where people go, so the costs can be borne more easily, I think that would be a show of solidarity.

The new system will also be much more efficient, with shorter processes for assigning responsibility and processing applications.

It will discourage abuses with clear obligations for applicants and safeguards against “asylum shopping". The right to international protection does not come with a right to choose the country where you want to have that international protection.

At the same time, we will better protect the rights of those who seek refuge, through better safeguards for unaccompanied minors and stronger guarantees that families will be kept together. This is the general picture, and I would now like to give the floor to Dimitris to go into the details of a number of these things and also to refer to the other decisions the College took today.

Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos:

Thank you Frans.

Dear all, good afternoon.

Let me just say that today is really an important day because we finally present our legislative proposal to ambitiously reform Dublin.

This is something that I have been calling for already during my hearing before being appointed European Commissioner one and a half years ago.

Today we finally take a step forward towards a fairer and more equitable asylum system for all Member States, by building the concept of solidarity and responsibility, sharing into the foundations of the system.

I take this opportunity to remind you all that when we talk about solidarity and responsibility, we do not refer to moral principles, but also to legal ones, since they are explicitly stipulated in the text of the treaties. So it is the moment for all of us, the Member States, the Commission of course, to prove what we really mean when we talk about these two principles.

And this is not only valid for Dublin, which is only one element of our wider reform of the Common European Asylum System.

Today we also propose to reform Eurodac and to turn the European Asylum Support Office into a genuine EU Agency for Asylum.

With the new Eurodac system, Member States will be able to store and search fingerprints for all third-country nationals who apply for asylum, who are stateless or are found to be staying irregularly within the European Union.

That way, Eurodac can be directly used for facilitating readmission and return operations.

Pooling data not just on fingerprints, but also names, dates of births, nationalities and travel documents will allow immigration officials to request information with just one click.

Our asylum system can only work with a stronger agency.

Just like we turned Frontex into a European Border and Coast Guard, we propose to turn the European Asylum Support Office into a fully-fledged European Union Agency for Asylum with a stronger mandate and more operational tasks in order to offer more support.

The new Agency will operationalise the fairness mechanism of the new Dublin system.

Everything will be centralised, transparent and objective.

We will also equip the new Agency financially and operationally with more resources.

We want the new Agency to dispose of a reserve pool of a minimum of 500 experts from Member States, so it can deploy asylum support teams rapidly when a Member States is suddenly facing disproportionate migratory pressure.

Speaking of migratory pressure - this brings me to the other point we discussed today in College: Schengen and temporary internal border controls.

As you know, and as I have also said many times, our objective is to return to a normalisation of Schengen with no internal border controls as soon as possible. But in order to take that step forward in safeguarding Schengen, we need to take some intermediate steps.

As we still face deficiencies at our external borders, we need to take temporary steps to allow for the exceptional continuation of existing controls at certain internal borders of the European Union.

Let me first acknowledge that Greece has made significant progress in the last few months and weeks.

However, not all of the serious deficiencies identified could be adequately and comprehensively addressed within the three months' limit that was set in line with the Schengen Borders Code.

With the large numbers of asylum seekers still in Greece, but some also along the Western Balkan route, we still face a risk of secondary movements.

As a result, we propose that the Council recommends that Austria, Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Norway maintain the internal border controls at specific border crossing points for up to six months.

We do not propose the introduction of border controls at the Schengen borders of Greece, namely at airports and ports.

Let me reiterate that our proposal should be seen as an exceptional temporary measure to ultimately allow for the safeguarding and return to a normal functioning Schengen area as soon as possible.

Finally, in the College today we adopted two proposals for visa liberalisation.

For Turkey, our report and proposal are very clear:

The Turkish authorities have made remarkable progress since the 18th of March, the EU-Turkey Summit, but there is still work to be done.

Our proposal is based on the understanding that all benchmarks have to be met as a matter of urgency.

The fulfilment and implementation of these benchmarks will bring closer our legal and political systems, and help enhance our cooperation in the field of operations.

But today I am also very pleased to propose visa liberalisation for Kosovo.

We propose visa liberalisation on the understanding that the ratification of the border agreement with Montenegro and the further strengthening of the track record in the fight against organised crime and corruption will be confirmed before adoption of the proposal by the European Parliament and Council.

Today's report and proposal are the results of the hard work and successful efforts of the Kosovo authorities in achieving far-reaching and difficult reforms in the Justice and Home Affairs area and beyond.

Of course, we will continue to monitor this further progress very closely.

I know how important visa-free travel is for the citizens of Kosovo and I am very glad to be able to present this proposal today.

I hope that the European Parliament and the Council will adopt our proposal very soon.

Let me be clear: visa liberalisation does not mean uncontrolled entry into the European Union.

Only people who have biometric passports can enter.

Moreover, these visa liberalisation efforts should also be seen as part of our wider approach to migration, security and borders.

Recently, we tabled a very important proposal for an Entry Exit System which will allow for a solid tracking of all third country nationals crossing our external borders and in particular over-stayers.

The European Parliament and Council should speed up work to get it adopted.

In autumn, I will present a proposal for an EU Travel Information and Authorisation System, the equivalent of the ESTA system in the United States, so visa-exempt travellers will register relevant information regarding their intended stay in the EU.

In this context, equally important is our amendment to the visa suspension mechanism, as Frans explained already.

Today is an important day: internally, when it comes to reforming our asylum systems and managing our internal borders, and externally when it comes to our proposals for visa liberalisation for Turkey and Kosovo.

Today we take concrete steps towards a more integrated and coordinated migration, mobility and border policy in the European Union. Thank you for your attention.

SPEECH/16/1667

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