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EU: Tracking the Pact: Civil-military "synergies" for external migration control

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09 January 2023

In early December the Czech Presidency of the Council circulated a note on the "state of play" of the EU's various asylum and migration initiatives, intended to inform member state delegations in the Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER). It is essentially a brief summary of work under the outgoing Czech Presidency. According to the note, this included the exploration of possible civil-military "synergies" in externalised migration control, through a meeting of the Council's External Migration Working Party with representatives of EUCAP Sahel Niger and EUBAM Libya.

Image: Axel Bührmann, CC BY 2.0

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The note (pdf) covers:

• Asylum
  • Roadmap with the European Parliament: "On 7 September 2022, the outgoing, current and three incoming Presidencies of the Council and the European Parliament signed a Roadmap in which they committed to make efforts towards the conclusion of all asylum files before the end of the legislative period of the current European Parliament. The Roadmap states that the negotiations between the co-legislators should start by the end of 2022."
  • Way forward on the reform of EU asylum system based on balanced solidarity and responsibility: "The concept presents various ideas that received a sound support from the majority of Member States and were welcomed throughout the negotiations as possible viable solutions to be considered during the necessary legislative work"
• Legal migration: "The Presidency started work on the two legislative proposals of the Commission’s Skills & Talent package, which aim to enhance the EU’s attractiveness for global talent by facilitating both the admission of workers with different skills levels to the EU and the intra-EU mobility of third-country nationals already present in the EU (see the document on the current legislative proposals 15288/22)."
• External dimension of asylum and migration
  • Civil-military synergies: "...the Presidency organised the very first EMWP meeting, which was attended by the chosen CSDP missions’ representatives (EUCAP Sahel Niger and EUBAM Libya - Mediterranean routes - and EUAM Ukraine - Eastern migration route), with a view to improving overall awareness and looking into possible synergies."
  • "At the meeting on 30 September, a new action file on Egypt was discussed as well as a draft proposal for a toolbox on instrumentalisation aiming to improve overall preparedness and ensure responsiveness. Both files were further discussed at the meeting on 17 October."
• Return
  
  • "The Presidency has continued the general long-standing efforts to improve implementation of fair, humane and effective returns. The Presidency has been paying due attention to the implementation of the EU strategy on voluntary return and reintegration as well as the development of Frontex mandate in the area of return, notably the Frontex Joint Reintegration Services (JRS)."

Documentation

• Asylum and migration − State of play (Council doc. 15265/22 ADD 1, LIMITE, 6 December 2022, pdf)
  
  • The note is an addendum to: Way forward on the reform of the EU asylum system based on balanced solidarity and responsibility − Czech Presidency concept (LIMITE, pdf), a previous version of which is available here
• Overview of the current legislative proposals under the Czech Presidency (Council doc. 15288/22, public, 7 December 2022, pdf)

Further reading