by Nick O’Connell
EU Political Analysis

23 September 2019

The Ministers of the Interior of five member states (Finland, France, Italy, Germany, and Malta) and EU Commissioner on Migration Mr. Avramopoulos met in Malta on Monday to discuss a temporary redistribution mechanism that will ease pressure on Italy, Malta, and Greece. It will formally be known as the “Predictive Temporary Allocation Programme.”

Because the agreement is not binding, the five Ministers today did not discuss the more technical elements of the program, postponing these talks to 8 October, at the next European Summit––an attempt to buy time and increase pressure on member states that were absent today. Commissioner Avramopoulos invited every member state to join the talks and sign on the Programme for the next meeting.

What is the Predictive Temporary Allocation Programme?

While many European nationalists and far right politicians are framing the agreement as the latest attack on Europe’s border integrity, the deal itself is not notably ambitious.

It is in many ways a step towards a more conservative continent-wide immigration policy; in fact, there has been close to no discussion of the role the Libyan Coast Guard is playing in returning hundreds of migrants to what are now widely accepted as illegal detention camps. Europe's involvement in funding these missions is well known and a point of dispute with humanitarian activists.

MotM has covered at length the unbearable living conditions in these Libyan camps and the constant life threatening situation people endure while imprisoned.

On a more positive note, the agreement will allow humanitarian rescue ships to reach a safe harbor in the short term, most likely in Italy and Malta.

And this is good news for the people that are rescued every day. The inhumanity of leaving migrants stranded at sea for weeks on humanitarian vessels remains unacceptable and a failure of European communitarian policy.

The European Union and its Member States still have a long way to go to finally acknowledge that every migrant has a right to a safe harbor and that there is an urgent need for a continent-wide immigration policy reform that replaces the Dublin Pact.

We hope the incoming European Commission will build off today's MiniSummit and take on the necessary political burden of finding a lasting and humane solution to Europe's humanitarian crisis.

Until then, we will be on the front line, giving a voice to those that have lost everything to reach Europe. To elevate the migration discourse squarely into human terms.