The Netherlands wants the European Union to do more to curb the secondary movements of migrants reaching the rest of the continent from southern European countries, especially Italy. Contrary to the EU rules of the Dublin regulation. This is what we read in the document presented by the Dutch government in Brussels for the next European summit. A summit where Prime Minister Mark Rutte will step in on another front: stopping the creation of a new joint fund against the energy crisis, the so-called sovereign fund supported by our government.
two games
The two sides (immigrants and the sovereign fund) are linked at the political level and could reignite tensions in the Rome-The Hague axis that characterized the first episode of the Covid-19 outbreak. Rutte doesn’t want to relinquish her role as European leader on the frugal front, and sees the idea of some kind of new Recovery fund (or Sure, if you prefer) as smoke with part of the German government. mirrors. The Netherlands dislikes the idea behind the two main EU anti-Covid crisis initiatives, namely the institutionalization of Eurobonds: a Europe that goes into debt instead of national governments using the guarantees of the countries with the most regular accounts.
sovereign fund
The new sovereign fund the European Commission is working on should raise another 200 billion Eurobond issuance, in addition to what it has collected with Sure (EU loans used to save companies and workers) and what it has saved to feed Pnrr. According to President Ursula von der Leyen, the new resources will need to be used to finance the Industrial Plan for the Green deal, the EU strategy that encourages investment in the transition period and responds to competition from China and the US. Rutte says he supports the plan, but warns that “it’s not just subsidies” and we need to focus on “the money that already exists” to increase Europe’s competitiveness. “Our competitiveness comes primarily from the smooth functioning of pensions, the labor market and housing, the empowerment system and the upgrading of workers’ skills,” he told Corriere. Rutte wants to clarify that he is not talking about “individual countries”, but highlights how “some major EU economies could benefit from accelerating and continuing the reforms they have implemented”.
It’s easy to guess that the Dutch prime minister’s thoughts on this matter also concern Italy: Granting new resources for The Hague could be a way to delay reforms. Austerity is a line the Netherlands has promoted in Europe for years, and has often been successful in. But first the pandemic and then the great difficulty in the energy transition changed the balance in Brussels. The ‘scourge’ of the Recovery Fund is still burning, and so Rutte may try to raise the stakes on other dossiers of great value to our government, instead of fueling a direct confrontation with Italy over investment: immigration among them all.
Immigrants and Dublin
And so we come back to the Dutch proposal for Dublin reform: there is the new immigration and asylum Pact on the table, proposed by the EU Commission more than two years ago, but still being debated between governments. If Italy has long wanted more solidarity (i.e. Member States like the Netherlands take responsibility for welcoming those who land in the first port countries like ours), the other members of the European club (not just the Netherlands, but Germany, France, Belgium and Austria) want to squeeze in secondary movements. The underlying accusation is that Italy and Greece do not adequately control arrivals by not processing asylum applications in a capillary manner, thereby supporting the ‘flight’ of migrants to Northern Europe.
The document, submitted by the Netherlands with the official support of Belgium and Austria, calls for the Pact to bring together “solidarity and responsibility” and to “fully implement” the “Dublin Regulation”. How? The document states that “The Commission, with the support of the European Asylum Agency and Frontex, is requested to prepare semi-annual reports on secondary movements within the EU”. Translated: Brussels must monitor compliance with the principle embodied in the rules currently in force, i.e. being the first destination countries to register ‘all’ asylum applications, admit migrants and possibly repatriate the ineligible. for asylum ‘asylum’.
Source: Today IT
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
