European Commission
Malmström

Today I had a working lunch with the Polish minister Jerzy Miller and the chair of the LIBE committee Juan Lopez Aguilar to discuss how to proceed with our work on the asylum package this autumn. One of the more difficult issues is the Dublin Regulation, where several Member States are blocking the current proposal. We discussed the different options for proceeding further and breaking the deadlock. The remaining legislative proposals, the asylum procedures and reception conditions directive, are still being negotiated and we are making small but steady progress.

During the afternoon I also met with the interior ministers from Romania and Bulgaria to discuss, amongst other issues, their Schengen entry. Both countries do meet the technical criteria for joining  the Schengen area, but some Member States still have some doubt. The Commission does not have a formal role in the decision on the lifting of internal borders which is taken by unanimity by the Member States. We discussed various possible solutions and how the Commission could best assist in this process. The Polish Presidency is hoping to present a solution to the Home Affairs Council in late September.

Overall, a lot of focus is on Schengen these days. Within the next weeks, I will present proposals to strengthen the Schengen system. Negotiations are still ongoing and last adjustments can still take place. Our aim is to enhance the free movement of goods and people, guaranteed by Schengen, through an early identification of problems and weaknesses and avoid that decisions are taken unilaterally. Schengen is a fantastic achievement, something we have built together, and decisions impacting on our common area of free movement should also be taken together.

2011-06-01 The meeting with the African Union continued today. Focus in the discussions were on how we can support a democratic development in Northern Africa, especially Egypt and Tunisia. We also discussed the situation in Libya. Libya is a member of the AU but there are different opinions within the AU on how to address the country. I continued the discussions I had yesterday with Bience Gawanas, Commissioner responsible for Social Affairs. Amongst other things we discussed common efforts to combat trafficking.

The Commission adopted today two amended directives within the Common European Asylum System. The ongoing negotiations are tough and two of the directives are particularly difficult, the Asylum Procedures Directive and the Reception Conditions Directive. It is of the utmost importance that there are clear standards for the treatment of asylum seekers and special attention must be given to those with special needs, for example unaccompanied minors. Today’s proposals aim at breaking the deadlock position. I will discuss these in the Council meeting next week and also at the Summit, end of June, and I am really hoping that they will give me a clear signal to conclude the negotiations. See the press briefing here.

2011-05-27 Today I have been in Ljubljana in Slovenia. I met with the Prime Minister, the Minister of Interior and the Minister of Justice. The discussions mainly focused on visa regulation, Schengen, the Common European Asylum System and the situation in Northern Africa. Prime Minister Borut Pahor and I know each other from the European Parliament where we both were members of the EU-Croatia Committee. Therefore, we obviously also talked about the EU-Croatia accession negotiations.

I visited the National Centre of Investigation where I met with the Director of the Anti-Corruption Commission. It was an interesting meeting in light of the proposal on corruption that I will present in two weeks time.

I also visited an asylum centre in Ljubljana. It was opened in 2005 and it is a centre for families, people with special needs and unaccompanied minors.

The results from the 2010 Eurobarometer survey were presented today. I was pleased to see that the EU is still seen as the most effective level for tackling the effects of the economic crisis. The economic crises have yet again reminded us how interlinked we are and that cooperation is the way forward.

It is evident that there are issues where EU cooperation is really necessary. But it is also interesting to see that the opinion on what these issues are differ from country to country. For my part, I hope of course that we will reach an EU agreement in the following months and years on a common asylum and migration policy, as we see more and more proof that this issue cannot be dealt with in 27 different ways.

Today I met with Sweden’s Minister for Environment Andreas Carlgren. He represents a country where environment and climate are high on citizens’ wishlist as the most important priorities for EU. We talked about environment and climate policies and about the importance for the EU to continue to lead the way in international negotiations with ambitious emission reduction targets.