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Asylum and migration policy

Asylum

The EU asylum policy is one of the most effectively developing areas of freedom, security and justice (AFSJ). One of its pillars is the Common European Asylum System (CEAS). The first phase of CEAS development (1999–2004) aimed at harmonising the legal framework applicable in the Member States in the area of asylum, based on the common minimum standards. The second phase (2009–2013) aimed to establish a common asylum procedure and a uniform protection status. The proposals for new legal acts have been supplemented with initiatives related to practical cooperation, solidarity and external dimension of asylum and migration.

The reform of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) was announced in May 2015 in the Commission Communication “A European Agenda on Migration”. On 4 May and 13 July 2016 the EC presented packages of proposals to reform legislative acts.

The projects include seven draft legal acts covered by the reform: the Dublin Regulation (designating the Member State responsible for examining an asylum application), the regulation establishing a European Asylum Support Office, the regulation establishing an EU resettlement framework, the Qualification regulation, the Procedural regulation, the Eurodac Regulation and the Reception Conditions Directive.

The most controversial element of the reform of the Common European Asylum System was the amendment of the so-called Dublin Regulation. According to the original draft, one of its basic elements was to establish a mandatory and automatic allocation mechanism. Poland strongly opposed the adoption of the proposed solution and during the talks repeatedly stressed that the balance between responsibility and solidarity should be based on a comprehensive approach to migration, taking into account the efforts of Member States also under other pillars of migration policy and on the possibility of voluntary development of support tools. 

In the absence of a consensus among Member States on key issues, a package of 7 legislative acts meant to reform the Common European Asylum System that was presented by the European Commission in 2016 remains not finalised.

Ursula von der Leyen, President of the new European Commission, announced the preparation of a New Pact on Migration and Asylum. It was supposed to be published in the second quarter of this year, but due to the COVID-19 pandemic this date has been postponed. The Pact on Migration and Asylum will be published in the form of a Communication from the Commission with a number of legislative proposals.

The Pact is intended to be a new opening with regard to the asylum reform, migration policy as well as return and readmission policy, and to cover border policy and issues related to the functioning of Schengen, including: 

  • establishing new forms of solidarity and ensuring that all Member States support those who are under the greatest migratory pressure;
  • developing a standing search and rescue mechanism; 
  • ensuring a balance between asylum and return and ensuring effective return of persons not entitled to protection; 
  • combating human trafficking and human smuggling;
  • establishing humanitarian corridors;
  • cooperating with the migrants’ countries of origin and transit; 
  • ensuring the possibility of legal migration to the EU (both labour migration of skilled workers and resettlement);  
  • implementing the reinforced mandate of the European Border and Coast Guard; 
  • re-establishing a fully-functioning Schengen area while evaluating the rules for its further enlargement.

The legislative proposals linked to the Pact are likely to relate directly to the not-finalised proposals in the asylum package, the proposed revised Return Directive and the revised Blue Card Directive.

Legal migration

As opposed to irregular migration, legal migration concerns the legitimate entry on and residence within the territory of a given country of a foreign national and whereby the foreign national has all the documents needed for regularisation of their stay. The conditions for entry, residence and employment are strictly determined by the legislation. Therefore, this type of migration concerns issues associated with the regularisation of residence, labour migration, as well as the problems of the foreign nationals’ integration with the host community.

In order to efficiently address the demographic crisis in the European Union and to compensate for the lack of sufficient labour, a decision was taken at the European level to establish EU common procedures for legal migrants, which would contribute to an increased attractiveness of the European Union as a destination for relocation and employment (permanent or seasonal). A new directive on the conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals for the purposes of research, studies and training was adopted in May 2016, providing European level regulations on the conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals for the purposes of research, studies, pupil exchange, remunerated and unremunerated training, voluntary service and au pairing. The Single Permit Directive applies to groups of workers not covered by sectoral regulations and defines the procedure for issuing a single residence and work permit as well as the scope of equal treatment of third-country workers. Separate directives also regulate issues related to residence permits for long-term EU residents and family reunification.

Attracting qualified migrants remains a challenge for the EU, which is why the new Pact on Migration and Asylum is expected to include a component concerning legal migration, the development of which is among the most effective instruments in the fight against illegal immigration. The European Commission announced that work would resume on the draft of the new directive on the conditions of entry and residence of third-country nationals for the purposes of highly qualified employment (Blue Card directive). The Directive is to ensure greater harmonisation of conditions for admission of highly qualified workers from outside the European Union to the EU, which should contribute to making the EU a more attractive location in this area.

The European Commission is also contributing to legal migration by way of pilot projects (predominantly in North Africa).

Combating illegal migration

The European Union along with the Member States are hard at work to prepare an efficient response to the migratory pressure at the EU’s external borders.

Due to the unprecedented scale of the phenomenon, the European Commission proposed a number of solutions meant to resolve the current crisis. The most important instruments include: resettlement and relocation programmes, EU Action Plan against migrant smuggling for the years 2015–2020 and EU Action Plan on return or the EU’s joint list of safe countries of origin.

Irregular migration cannot be fully controlled and the number of irregular migrants residing in the EU or a Member State may only be roughly estimated. This is a phenomenon that also threatens the internal security of the EU citizens as it is linked with other dangerous phenomena, such as organised crime, trafficking in human beings and terrorism. Therefore, it is extremely important to ensure that the actions aimed at fighting against irregular migration and other related practices are coherent and common to the EU as a whole. 

In 2019, two Regulations establishing a framework for interoperability between EU information systems in the field of justice and home affairs entered into force. Easier and more efficient exchange of information between Member States will significantly improve security in the EU, enable more efficient checks at the external borders, allow to better detect identity multiplication and contribute to preventing and combating illegal migration.

Poland recognises the global refugee crisis and faces it head on together alongside the entire international community. We contribute to actions to ensure comprehensive support for refugees in their regions of origin and to actions enabling as many of them as possible to return home quickly and safely as well as to actions to support third countries in effective migration management and capacity building. 

Global Approach to Migration and Mobility (GAMM)

The Global Approach to Migration and Mobility (GAMM) is a concept that establishes the framework for the external dimension of EU migration and asylum policy, which governs EU cooperation with third countries on the aforementioned issues.

GAMM consists of four pillars which specify priority areas for dialogue and cooperation with third countries that are a key from the perspective of migration. The four thematic areas of GAMM are:

  1. legal migration and mobility;
  2. irregular migrations and combating trafficking in human beings;
  3. promoting international protection and enhancing the external dimension of the EU asylum policy;
  4. inter-relationship between the Migration and the Development Policy.

 

GAMM activities combine political cooperation with its practical dimension. GAMM covers all external political processes and bilateral dialogues concerning migration. This also concerns the migration related processes and dialogues of key importance for Poland in its relationships with the East European countries, such as the Eastern Partnership Prague Process.

Under GAMM, Mobility Partnerships are the basic instrument of practical cooperation. Until now, Mobility Partnerships have been concluded with: Moldova, Cape Verde, Georgia, Armenia, Morocco, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Jordan and Tunisia. Poland is a party to all Partnerships concluded with the Eastern Partnership countries as well as the Partnership with Tunisia and Jordan.

The migration crisis, which, besides migration routes through Turkey and the Eastern part of the Mediterranean region to Greece, was also caused by an unprecedented high level of inflows of migrants from Africa, mainly via Libya to Italy. In this context, on 7 June 2016, the European Commission adopted a document setting out the so-called New Partnership Framework, which concerned cooperation with key countries of origin and transit of migrants: Ethiopia, Eritrea, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal, Somalia, Sudan, Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Algeria, Morocco, Tunisia, Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

European Migration Network

The European Migration Network (EMN) was established pursuant to the council Decision 2008/381/EC of 14 May 2008. Its main objective is to provide EU institutions and MS authorities and institutions with up-to-date, objective, reliable and comparable information on migration and asylum issues. The information is intended as a starting point for the policy makers and experts at the national and European level to help them understand better the current challenges in the area of migration, including in particular the support for the European Commission in decision-making on the need for further actions at the European level.

Information disseminated through the EMN is also intended to raise the awareness of the public on the issues associated with migration and asylum.

The European Migration Network in Poland is located at the Ministry of the Interior and Administration

EMN Poland

E-mail: esm@mswia.gov.pl
Website: www.emn.gov.pl

EMN

Website: ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/what-we-do/networks/european_migration_network_en

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