A new migration agenda with an improved governance to strengthen Europe’s asylum system and set a sound course on legal migration, act more vigorously against irregular migration and ensure more secure borders is to be presented by the European Commission in May.
Speaking as the European Commission today launched its work on a comprehensive European Agenda on Migration, first vice-president Frans Timmermans said: "Managing migration well is a challenge for Europe as a whole. It is now time for a fresh approach in the way we work together: we must make better and more coherent use of all our tools, agree common priorities and pool more resources at EU and national levels to achieve real solidarity and a better sharing of responsibility between member states.
High Representative vice-president Federica Mogherini said: "We need to be effective, as Europeans, on the immediate response and at the same time to address the root causes, starting from the crises spreading at our borders, most of all in Libya. That's why we are increasing our work with origin and transit countries to provide protection in conflict regions, facilitate resettlement and tackle trafficking routes."
Migration, Home Affairs and Citizenship Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said: "Migration is about people – behind each face arriving at our borders, there is an individual: a businessperson travelling to work, a student coming to study, a victim of people-traffickers, a parent trying to get their children to safety.
When presenting a comprehensive European Agenda on Migration we have to think about all dimensions of migration – this is not about quick fixes; this is about creating a more secure, prosperous and attractive European Union."
Today's Orientation Debate set out the four main areas where actions are envisaged in the European Agenda on Migration to implement the political guidelines of President Jean Claude Juncker.
These were a strong common asylum system, anew European policy on legal migration, fighting irregular migration and human trafficking more robustly, and securing Europe's external borders.
The Commission will take all efforts for existing divergences in national asylum policy practices to disappear.
It will deepen its cooperation to address the root causes of migration, as well as mainstreaming migration into the design of development strategies.
The Commission also said it was committed to making progress in the increased use of relocation and resettlement efforts by the European Union, in close dialogue with member states and third countries which hosted refugees.
The European Commission would also launch a review of the EU Blue Card directive, for a more horizontal approach to a legal migration policy.
The Commission said it was working towards a comprehensive set of actions against human smuggling, and wanted to further develop concrete tools targeting priority countries and routes, in close collaboration with third countries, also through existing readmission agreements and cooperation frameworks.