Euranet Plus: Migration pact: EU lawmakers ask for greater clarity

Camino Mortera-Martinez, of the Centre for European Reform think-tank, shares the view that the Commission’s proposal does not address the issue of the countries of first arrival. But reinforced cooperation is not appropriate in this case, the researcher says.

Camino Mortera-Martinez, senior research fellow at CER: “Countries cannot enjoy only the benefits of Schengen and not its disadvantages” (in Spanish)

“I do not consider feasible that some countries would enjoy the benefits of Schengen without participating in, let’s say, its disadvantages: having to take part in the control and the management of the external borders, including the management of the migrants and asylum seekers.”

Boosting deportations

Mortera-Martinez argues that the goal of the Commission’s proposal is not to improve the reallocation mechanism, but to boost deportations.

Camino Mortera-Martinez, researcher at CER: “The Commission wants to accelerate the process of deportations” (in Spanish)

“With this new proposal, the Commission aims at accelerating the process so that those with the right to asylum could go to the countries that want to welcome them in, and those without the right to asylum would be deported as soon as possible. The Commission is not counting on more allocation pledges, but on a surge in deportations.”