European Union

On 19 July 2017, the Permanent Representatives Committee (Coreper) endorsed, on behalf of the Council, a mandate for negotiations on a regulation regarding the qualification standards, status and  protection granted to refugees and persons eligible for subsidiary protection. On the basis of this mandate, the presidency will start negotiations with the European Parliament as soon as possible.

"The reform of the common European asylum system is a fundamental part of our comprehensive migration policy and therefore of utmost importance for Europe. Besides achieving equal rights and obligations for asylum seekers and beneficiaries of international protection across Europe, this will also reduce secondary movements and help those genuinely in need of protection. The actual amount of social payments will still be in the hands of each member state”, said Andres Anvelt, minister of interior of Estonia, following today's agreement on qualification and protection standards. “I also want to pay tribute to the Maltese presidency for their huge work on this file”, added Minister Anvelt.

EU ambassadors endorsed the text of the mandate on the understanding that the parts relating to other files of the common European asylum system (CEAS) reform will be revisited once there is agreement on those proposals. 

The main objectives of this draft regulation are: 

• ensuring that member states will apply common criteria for the identification of persons genuinely in need of international protection
• ensuring the same common set of rights is available for those persons in all member states

 Once the regulation is adopted, all applicants should be equally treated in all EU member states, therefore helping avoid secondary movements. 

The draft regulation defines the standards for qualification both for refugee status and for subsidiary protection. It also lays down the elements to be taken into account in the assessment of an application. 

The draft regulation details the protection granted to beneficiaries, including the duration of the permits and their rights in relation to access to employment, education, social security, healthcare, accommodation and integration measures. It limits the right to reside of beneficiaries of international protection to the member state which granted them the protection. 

The draft regulation also includes specific elements to take account of the situation of minors, in particular unaccompanied minors. 

Background 

Following its Communication of 6 April 2016 on the reform of the common European asylum system, the Commission presented in May and in July seven legislative proposals, including the above-mentioned proposal, with a view to: 

• improving the functioning of CEAS by eliminating differing treatment of asylum seekers and varying recognition rates among member states;
• reducing secondary movements and contributing to a fairer distribution among the member states of the responsibility to offer protection to those in need.

  

An art exhibition in Germany illustrated the tragic price of the migration crisis that is now effecting Europe. The theme of an art installation called Lampedusa 361 was about refugees who have drowned in the Mediterranean, while trying to make the sea crossing from Africa to Europe. The installation which has been exhibited in Dresden and Düsseldorf is not just a piece of artwork, but also acts as a memorial to those who have died and a warning to all of us.

The exhibition consisted of posters which were laid out rather like beach mats or towels on the ground in an open space. The posters were of photographs of the graves of refugees who died off the coast of southern Italy. Candles were placed on the ground beside the mats, which created the impression of actually being in a cemetery where the refugees had been buried. In the year 2016 over 5000 men, women, and children died while trying to cross the Mediterranean often in old leaky overloaded fishing boats. These events pose the question of why are these people going to such desperate measures to reach Europe?

Throughout history refugees have fled the terror of persecution and wars, which continues to the present day: at the time of writing there are wars going in South Sudan, Nigeria, Yemen, Iraq and Syria. These conflicts have created millions of refugees who have lost everything, but added to this is the phenomenon of climate change. Both of these problems of climate change and wars are global, and could be described as the force that is pushing the mass migration from the south to the north.

The mass migration is a symptom of a dying planet, where large areas of the planet are becoming uninhabitable. The human species is killing the planet and itself at the same time. Europe can no longer cope with mass immigration, but mass immigration is not the fault of the immigrants, everybody will do what they have to do to survive. If EU member states – including the UK irrespective of Brexit – are selling armaments to Saudi Arabia and other oil and gas producing states in the Middle East, then Europe is helping to make the problem of mass immigration worse.

Sources
http://lampedusa361.de/

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/mar/09/saudi-arabia-becomes-worlds-biggest-arms-importer

http://www.thenational.scot/news/eu-to-probe-saudi-arms-trade.13087

©Jolyon Gumbrell 2017

The post Climate change and war appeared first on Ideas on Europe.

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