Belgium (Brussels Morning Newspaper) The governments of Poland and Hungary, but also the nationalist parties in the European Parliament, are trying to block any reform that provides for European management of the immigration phenomenon.
STALEMATE IN THE ASYLUM PACKAGE
In the Council, Orban and Morawiecki block any type of decision on the regulation concerning crisis situations and force majeure in the migration sector and consequently, the Asylum Contact Group, the group that includes the rapporteurs in the European Parliament of the dossiers of the asylum and migration package, decided to block political negotiations on Eurodac regulations and screening.
We are faced with a real institutional and political impasse that isolates Italy at a time of strong pressure on its coasts. The approval of this regulation, blocked in the Council, would greatly help countries like Italy exposed to migratory waves because the new rules provide for extraordinary and temporary measures, as well as a more streamlined and simplified procedure in the case of massive influxes of migrants, as is happening these days in Lampedusa.
We pay a high price for nationalist rhetoric on a topic very dear to citizens such as security, while today we strongly need solidarity and closeness. This is not how complex and ambitious challenges such as managing migratory flows based on legality and respect for human rights are overcome.
RIGHT AGAINST SCHENGEN REFORM
MEPs from Forza Italia and Lega voted in the Civil Liberties, Justice, and Home Affairs Committee of the European Parliament against the new Schengen rules which limit internal border controls to 18 months, currently 24 months. With this vote, we are sending a strong and clear message to those countries that are jeopardizing the very survival of the Schengen area, one of the greatest achievements of the European Union.
The new rules make it more difficult to reject migrants who irregularly cross internal borders and this can only be done during common patrolling operations and therefore no longer carried out only by one Member State. Furthermore, under no circumstances will it be possible to reject unaccompanied minors, families, and asylum seekers who are currently trapped in Italy. Lega and Forza Italia and all the right-wing parties are either in total confusion or do not have Italian interests in Europe at heart.
