Jordi Solé calls for a new perspective on the New Migration and Asylum package

EFA Group President, Jordi Solé intervened on plenary to raise his concerns over the proposed new Migration and Asylum package.

 

The draft proposal was debated last July, where MEP Solé already raised his worries over the lack of solidarity shown, but now the Commission and Council are looking for a speedy agreement so this package can move forward.

 

“For years we have been debating how to address asylum and migration with a common European policy. And even though this is one of the most polarised debates we have, prone to populism and instrumentalisation, or rather because of it, it is urgent to conclude an agreement on the whole package.” Solé said.

 

The Catalan MEP stressed why it was so necessary to reach an agreement quickly, but he was not ready to overlook the flaws of the proposal, and the price this had for people seeking asylum.

 

“It is also urgent because the current management is a failure: in terms of human rights, of lives lost, of saturated arrival points at some external borders, of a lack of co-responsibility on the part of many governments, of NGOs criminalised for their solidarity action and of mafias running amok.”

 

But even though the MEP Solé also wants to reach an agreement on the package, he is not willing to push a side for solidarity, access to asylum, fair relocation between Member States, and respect for fundamental rights for the sole purpose of having an agreement.

 

“We will continue to demand full solidarity between states, legal and safe channels, the right to asylum and compliance with international law and human rights, particularly at borders and in cooperation with third countries.”

 

“We want migration to be managed on the basis of the principles of solidarity and human dignity, also taking into account the needs of our economies and the reception capacities of our societies”. Jordi Solé concluded.