The European Commissioner Margaritis Schinas defends, in an interview to the “World”, the migratory policy of the European Union. According to him, the situation at the Belarusian border showed that the problem concerned all European countries.
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Vice-President of the European Commission, in charge of the “Promotion of the European Lifestyle”, the Greek Margaritis Schinas is also the craftsman of the “Global Pact for Migration” unveiled in the fall 2020 and still under discussion .
The shipwreck of migrants part of Calais has tragically illustrated the need to define a European migration policy, but also to discuss relations with London. What is your look at this case?
The supporters of Brexit said they would assume the control of the borders of their country. When we negotiated the partnership treaty, we wanted a chapter on immigration and asylum, which would have made it possible to manage such situations. The British refused. Today, they tell us “do not work, take up the migrants!” And, at the same time, want to work together for a solution. It is incoherent and I wonder if they do not just want to bring to Europe all the weight of responsibilities. However, if they want to really engage, we are ready to discuss.
At the border between Belarus and Poland, it is evoked, without the press or MEPs able to check, one ” de-escalation “. Is it real?
Yes, and it is the fruit of joint action that Europeans have been able to conduct. Our threats of sanctions against carriers who fueled the trafficking of persons, my own displacements in the countries of origin, our cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to help victims still in the border area, and our Help for returns programs: all this has beneficial effects. We ensure the financing of returns and have allowed exceptional measures allowing the member countries concerned to temporarily derogate from certain rules of the right of asylum.
Poland challenges the very principle of these rules. How do you judge the attitude of this country that seems, for many, to have instrumentalized this crisis for profit?
The situation as created at the frontier was not an ordinary affair and had nothing to do with migration. It was a mass, major, planned, hybrid attack [the European Union accused the Belarusian President Alexander Loukachenko, to have orchestrated the coming of thousands of migrants]. It was necessary to face, but proportionately, with an anchor in our values. This is why the Commission presented on Wednesday, 2 December, provisional measures and a legal framework for a period of six months to face an exceptional situation.
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