PRESS RELEASE: The European Green Party reacts to the European Commission plan for a re-distribution of asylum applicants amongst the EU member states
Today, the European Commission presented its plan for a temporary re-distribution of asylum applicants amongst the EU member states.
Commenting on the proposal, European Green Party Co-Chair, Reinhard Bütikofer, said:
“The Commission has found itself forced to finally address the asylum issue which Europe has been shying away from for too long. Its proposal ends a long phase during which the European Institutions have been burying their heads in the sand, but unfortunately the Commission with its new strategy has not yet begun the necessary new phase of balanced long-term solutions.
The present ad hoc approach will not allow us to deal with asylum seekers and refugees on the basis of solidarity with them, and also on the basis of solidarity between member states.
In order to move beyond the Commission band-aid solution, civil society and parliaments will need to change the public perception of these topics and to come up with a more inclusive answer.
To that end, the European Parliament should launch an initiative of cooperation with member states’ parliaments and regional parliaments to find meaningful answers to the problem. Before the end of the year, the European Parliament should convene an Inter-Parliamentary Conference to present these contributions”.
European Green Party Co-Chair Monica Frassoni added:
“With the help of civil society, we now have to overcome the Member States’ hostility towards to a European asylum policy that goes beyond a state of emergency.
Let us not forget that, unfortunately, countries like France, Spain, Hungary, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Slovakia refuse the principle of repartition. It is time for European governments to face-up to their responsibilities and – in the long run – abolish the Dublin system, so as to not have such an unequal distribution of responsibilities”
