Migrants: how the EU could change the rules on borders and NGOs

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How to frame the compromise reached late at night by the 27 on the thorny issue of migration, the most debated by the leaders during the extraordinary European Council? Practical decisions in this case had not been foreseen. Whether or not they will ever arrive, due to the cross vetoes, is another matter. Meanwhile, however, the political direction is clear. With Italy that can claim a couple of successes. For Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni it is “an important change of pace”.

The recognized specificity of external borders

Now, it’s not like such language has never been used in the past. From the M5s, for example, they recall how in June 2018 after “13 hours of negotiations” conclusions were reached that framed migration as a community challenge, dedicating 12 paragraphs to it. However, the document approved by the 27 on Thursday night includes some important details for Italy. Like the “specificity” of the “maritime borders” and an “effective involvement of the EU at the external borders”, “including the operational question of private entities”.

The reference to NGOs and a code of conduct

For Giorgia Meloni this very last part (“also as regards the operations of private entities”) represents the breach through which to try to convince the EU partners to adopt a code of conduct for the humanitarian vessels of the NGOs that carry out research and rescue in the Mediterranean. Italy would have liked a more explicit formulation, but the text initially agreed with the Dutch premier Mark Rutte was later amended during the examination of the other leaders.

Secondary moves and walls

“This theme is in the conclusions and it is quite new, just as it is discussed with a view to regulating the functioning of these activities”, Meloni underlined. But in the end the European Council, whether extraordinary or not, is always the proud compromise. Others got more. For example, the will of the presidency (therefore Sweden) to discuss secondary movements (also the German prime minister Olaf Scholz appreciated the passage on the Dublin roadmap – which in fact will require countries like Italy to register all migrants and to recover the so-called “dublinants”, because Germany too has the problem of secondary movements), and the request to use European funds to strengthen the external borders, with measures that are not (yet) called walls but which go there as as close as possible. Then of course, the real turning point would come from the agreement on the new Migration Pact but the leaders were not yet called to talk about this.

The critical issues of the redistribution of migrants

European sources ensure that the approach chosen by Meloni – “vigorous” – has been “respected” and judged “constructive”, although “not shared” in some passages. The Prime Minister expresses satisfaction because it is one thing to talk vaguely about not leaving Italy alone and another to “establish a framework” to be filled, however, “with concrete measures”. “We want the EU to commit itself more in Africa and given that in the past we spent six billion for a plan for Turkey, now I would like something similar to be done with North Africa”, notes Meloni. In short, the approach must be comprehensive because the redistribution of migrants “is a decoy”. After which the agreements so far “have not only been voluntary but have not worked”. What then translates into a reduction in landings, this is for the moment a story yet to be written.