European Commission
Malmström

I am on a mission to the US and today I will give a lecture at Harvard. I have been invited to their European Program, the Kokkalis Program, to talk about current European challenges.

I will address three challenges. The first is the response to the Arab Spring. Following the historic developments in the Arab world, the EU will need to bring about a serious change in its policies towards its Mediterranean neighbours. The second challenge is the need for a common European migration policy. The EU is facing a declining labour force and needs to attract the rights skills and talent. And the third challenge is the need for a common European asylum policy. The EU must ensure equal treatment of asylum seekers no matter where they apply and make sure all Member States shoulder their share of responsibility. You can read the full speech here.

Tomorrow I will travel to Washington to meet with the Attorney General, Eric Holder, and to visit the FBI to learn more about their work to combat cybercrime.

Family Photo Informal Ministerial Copenhagen January 2012

Today is not only the Council meeting with the 27 Interior Ministers it is also International Women’s Day and therefore a good occasion to take note of the lack of women who will sit around the negotiating table today. There are 6 women and 21 men amongst the Ministers of Interior in Europe. Among the Ministers of Justice, who will not meet today, the distribution is slightly better – 9 women.

Political representation is a very good indication of how far we have come in terms of gender equality. A review of my own house – the Commission – does not provide more uplifting figures. One third of the Commissioners are women, 9 out of 27. But the High Representative for Foreign Policy and First Vice President is a woman: Catherine Ashton and we also have a female Secretary-General, Catherine Day. Out of the heads of Cabinet, only five out of 27 are women, one of whom, Maria Åsenius works with me. At the Director General level it is even worse. There, we find only two women among 36 men. An underlying factor is the lack of labour flexibility and availability of parental leave for both sexes. The Commission has an internal strategy and action plans to improve the situation. The most recent evaluation shows that the number of women in middle management positions has increased in recent years. Even if progress is still far too slow, it is at least going in the right direction.

The Commission has a strategy to work with member states to increase women’s participation, by reconciling work with private life, promoting female entrepreneurship and encouraging access to quality child care. Women’s participation in the labour market is now up to 63 %, compared with 52 % in 1998. The Commission’s objective is to reach 75 % by 2020. This is, however, dependent on member countries actively engaging and doing something about it and, above all, recognising the worth of increasing women’s participation in the labour market. Some estimates suggest that GDP will increase with between 15 % and 45 % if the difference in employment rates between men and women disappears.

Within my own portfolio, I have made several proposals taking into account women’s specific situation, for example, when it comes to asylum and reception conditions, where it should go without saying that a woman who suffered abuse requires extra care. And when it comes to developing a strategy to combat human trafficking, you have take into account the fact that up to 80 % of trafficking victims are women.

Today in the Council we will not discuss women’s political participation or status on the labour market. Instead, we will discuss the common asylum policy, the situation in Greece and the Schengen proposals. The Council is also expected to adopt two very important proposals that I have very actively pushed for. The first is a tightening the rules on imports and exports of firearms and the other is the common resettlement program. After years of negotiations, finally, the three institutions agreed on the European resettlement program that allows us to better pool our resources and assist the world’s most vulnerable refugees.

Looking back at 2011, it has definitely been a very eventful year. The economic crisis has put pressure on people, politicians, governments and the European institutions. The problems are far from resolved as we enter 2012. There is still a long way to go.  But I hope we can shift our gaze in 2012 from the European crisis to providing all the support we can to a democratic transition in our neighbourhood.

The events last year related to the Arab spring really were historic. That people, in one country after another, stood up in protest against dictators, demanding free elections, democracy and human rights is truly amazing. Ben Ali and Mubarak are now gone and Kadaffi is dead.  This creates new conditions in countries where democracy has been in short supply. The brave people in Syria continue their protest against the violent and utterly tone-deaf regime.  I really hope that we will also see a change of regime in Damascus.

Another event that touched me deeply in 2011 is the massacre at Utöya in Norway last summer. It is still so unspeakably cruel and incomprehensible, and it has made us aware of how important it is to work together to identify extremists of all kinds and prevent that acts of violence of this kind is repeating themselves. The launch of the Radicalisation Awareness Network in September has been a great success, allowing many people to come together to share experiences in an effort to prevent violence.

The Poles have now handed over the EU Presidency to the Danes. The Poles had a hard time during the Autumn, in the shadow of “Merkozy”, but Prime Minister Tusk handled the situation well and has shown great European leadership. In my area, we have taken small but important steps forward regarding the asylum package. As the Danes now taken over it is important to continue these efforts so that, by the end of the year, we hopefully have all the pieces in place.

And as the new year begins, we are closely following the worrying developments in Hungary. The new Constitution has just come into force and it contains several problematic clauses that do not appear to be consistent with the fundamental values that all EU countries endorse. It has also led to large protests in Hungary. In addition, new laws have been adopted which greatly undermine both the Hungarian Central Bank, the judiciary and the Data Protection Ombudsman’s independence. The Commission has repeatedly expressed concern for these laws, and for the Constitution. Chairman Barroso has already sent two letters to the Hungarian Prime Minister, asking for clarification.

There is certainly no shortage of things to do in 2012, but let me take this opportunity to wish you all a very Happy New Year!

I’ve just attended a seminar organized by Transparency International ahead of the International Day against Corruption, on Friday. You can read the speech here. There were politicians, scientists, industry and representatives from the civil society. I work hard to prepare the report on corruption in the Member States, which will be presented in 2013. We need to make sure that we are consistent in the fight against corruption in all the work of the Commission, for example, with better proposals for public procurement, accounting, control, etc. We also support a major research project on corruption involving 20 countries and led by the Quality of Governance Institute in Gothenburg.

Corruption is estimated to cost almost as much as the annual budget of the European Union. In these times of austerity it would be good, also for economical reasons, if a greater share of the money stayed within the licit economy.

Now I am on my way to Geneva, where a large number of Ministers and personalities meet in conjunction with the Geneva Convention’s 60th birthday. I will participate in a roundtable on the future of asylum policy. It is sad that we still haven’t been able to agree on the asylum package and that the EU countries could not agree on a joint offer to accept refugees. UNHCR has for a year asked all countries to come to Geneva with an offer to accept refugees. But the EU Member States did not find this to be a priority. It is deeply tragic.

Last year, South Africa alone received 180,000 asylum applications. The 27 EU Member States combined only accepted 260,000 in the same year. Although we hear much talk about solidarity in asylum matters, there is a lack of concrete measures. We see this clearly when we look at how the reception of asylum seekers in Europe is divided. During the first half of this year 75% of all asylum applications in Europe were made in six countries: France, Germany, Belgium, UK, Sweden and Italy. This means that there are 21 EU Member States that could take a lot more responsibility.

Today I have therefore presented a proposal on how we can encourage more European countries to show solidarity. Notably this will be achieved by giving the Member States the opportunity to receive financial assistance for accepting refugees, but it will also work to strengthen the Asylum Support Office, EASO, so they can provide skilled personnel to assist in the handling of refugee claims. Special funds will be available to support countries that wish to receive refugees and we hope that the current relocation program from Malta to other EU countries can be made permanent. We are now also negotiating the final parts of the common European asylum system package to be completed next year. When this is then in place, the countries that currently lack a system for asylum reception will be obliged to build one. You can read more about the proposal I presented today.

Otherwise, I have devoted the day to reading the speeches of Merkel and Sarkozy, ahead of the summit next week.

Yesterdays Council meeting with EU Ministers of Home Affairs in Luxembourg was lengthy – there was a lot to discuss. The most difficult issue was the asylum situation in Greece. Now, almost a year since the adoption of the Greek Action Plan, it is high time to evaluate what has been done so far. The Commission is, together with the Member States experts, the European Asylum Support Office in Malta, Frontex and UNHCR, actively engaged in implementing this plan. There are a lot of resources – economic, technical and humanitarian – that have been made available to Greece. I sent an evaluation team to Greece last week, the report of which was subject to discussion during the meeting.

Greece is unfortunately, at present, very much in the media spotlight. Yes, Greece has huge economic problems. And, yes it is also true that it is a country made up of thousands of islands with borders which are difficult to control, attracting a lot of migrants and asylum seekers. But the problems with the asylum situation in Greece are longstanding. For more than a century, they have failed to establish a functioning asylum reception and processing system, which has resulted in a situation where more than ten thousand people have been trying to apply for asylum in Greece, some for over a decade. The situation has worsened over the last few years – to the point where Greece now sees the arrival of around 400 people every day.

The evaluation report acknowledged that there has been progress in certain areas, for example, on the asylum process, in that more people have had their applications processed and the rate of approval has increased. But the humanitarian situation in detention centres in Evros, at the border to Turkey, is still dreadful. I have been there and I can tell you that it is unacceptable in an EU country to have people treated in such a way. And with the winter coming, the situation could get much worse. These people must have clothes and access to medicines. Another big problem seems to be the inability of the Greek authorities to use the resources that have been made available to them.

At the Council, we discussed how we can continue to support Greece. We feel great solidarity with Greece and want to help, but it is of course the Greeks themselves that have the responsibility to make sure there is progress.

Other issues on the Council agenda were: visa issues, the EU anti-drugs policy, the common asylum system, the Eastern Partnership and border control issues.

Five hundred days have gone by since the elections in Belgium and there is still no new government. A few weeks ago, progress was made in negotiations but now it seems to have stalled again. 

Stalling, however, is not how you would describe discussion in Europe. While the European Council is preparing for negotiations in Brussels this evening, there are intense dicussions in the European Parliament in Strasbourg. I am in the plenary all afternoon and evening, where we are discussing the joint EU resettlement programme (where there already is an agreement on substance but where the Council and Parliament are arguing about procedures), the Directive to combat sexual abuse of children, the Qualifications Directive and the PNR agreement with Australia.

The European Parliament vote on the Qualifications Directive is extremely important. The Directive is a fundamental element in the asylum package and shows that we are making progress in negotiations on a common European Asylum System. The Directive to combat sexual abuse of children gives us a tool at EU-level to combat this horrid crime, whether it is about sexual tourism, child pornography or grooming. You can read more about the Directive here. You can also follow the debate live.

Later this evening I will go to Luxembourg for the Justice and Home Affairs Council, which starts tomorrow. 

Photo from today's press conference on combatting sexual exploitation of children

Sixty years ago, the UN Refugee Convention was signed. Back in 1951, it was born out of the strong “never again” sentiments after World War II, when hundreds of thousands of people still six years after the war ended were still uprooted and destitute. For four of the six decades that the Refugee Convention has been in place, the main beneficiaries of refugee protection were Europeans themselves. This is important to remember in these times, when there are rather tough sentiments towards immigration and asylum issues in many parts of Europe. To me, the situation is crystal clear: Europe has an obligation to help people fleeing persecution, wars and torture, and we need to keep on taking that obligation seriously. That is why it is also important that people who apply for asylum in the EU are received in the same way in all Member States and that we can agree on a Common European Asylum System as soon as possible.

I have many times warned about xenophobia and populist movements, and made calls for better leadership in many EU countries in order to stand up against extreme-right and anti-immigration sentiments on their national arenas. Today, when we celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Refugee Convention, this message is even more important. The EU owes it to all refugees and to itself to uphold the values of its international commitments, and to continue to give protection and prospects of a better future to those who really need our help. This day is a reminder of that.

The French newspaper Le Monde published today a joint article signed by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees Mr António Guterres and myself. You can read it here.

2011-07-12 Today I took part in the presentation of the new OECD report on migration, together with OECD Secretary-General Angel Gurría and my colleague Commissioner László Andor. The report shows that migration into OECD countries fell by about 7% between 2008 and 2009. The report also looks at the impact of the economic crisis on the management of labour migration and presents recent policy changes on family and humanitarian migration as well as on border controls. The OECD also states that there is a growing need for increased labour migration.

I share the conclusions of the OECD report that we need more labour migration and that we have seen policy developments in the migration area the last year which are affected by the economic downturn, for example both a more restrictive approach to labour migration and stricter policies for family reunification and humanitarian migration. We cannot ignore concerns of the general public as regards migration so it is very important that we contribute to an informed debate, building on facts and figures. And this report will add to this debate.

In order for individual and societies to benefit from migration, we need effective integration policies. And just like the Commission, the OECD has identified some main aspects of importance when it comes to supporting newly arrived migrants to give them a good start in their receiving countries which will facilitate their participation, including learning the local language and entering employment. The Commission will adopt shortly a Communication on integration, addressing the main integration challenges.

I also welcome the committee vote in the European Parliament today on the Qualifications Directive that will clarify legal criteria to define the grounds needed for protection. Today’s agreement brings us one step closer to our overarching goal of completing the Common European Asylum System by 2012. The European Parliament and the Council will now vote on the Directive but I am confident that the amended Directive will be swiftly adopted.

2011-07-08 Today the College of Commissioners are meeting with the Polish government in Warsaw. We are having a joint meeting but we will also have bilateral meetings. I will meet with the Minister of Interior Jerzy Miller, whom I know well. He has high ambitions for the Polish Presidency and he is dedicated to reach progress on the negotiations on the Common European Asylum System and on the strengthening of Schengen.

Prime Minister Donald Tusk held a much appreciated speech in the European Parliament last Wednesday, where he stressed the importance to stand up for Europe and European values and not to give in to populism and nationalism. It is not every day that we get to hear speeches like that from European leaders, and this speech was very encouraging.