/ world today news/ The countries of the interior of the EU will be obliged to “take” from the countries under migrant pressure no less than 30,000 migrants in order to relieve them. This is foreseen by a regulation, part of the new Migration Pact, which was agreed between the European Parliament and the Council on December 20, 2023. The coordinator of the negotiations on behalf of the European Parliament (EP) is MEP Elena Yoncheva. She presented details of the agreement on bTV’s “120 Minutes”.
The reform actually includes nine regulations that govern different aspects of managing migrant flows – tighter border controls, document checks, investigations into potential terrorist threats, fingerprinting, overcrowding crisis responses, faster processing and assessment of asylum seekers’ applications, work with third countries, strengthening of the European Asylum Agency, etc. Among them is the so-called mechanism for solidarity – the relocation of migrants from the countries on the external borders of the EU to the interior of the Union, explained Elena Yoncheva. She said that, at the insistence of the Council, the pact would enter into force 24 months after it was signed in April, despite the EP’s insistence that it be no later than a year. During this time, countries such as Bulgaria, Italy, Spain, Greece and Cyprus will have a total fund of 2 billion euros to prepare for the implementation of the new rules.
Discussions to change the Dublin Regulation, which sets the rules of EU migration policy, have been going on for more than ten years. It was not fair to Bulgaria and the other countries on the front line – to take on the pressure of migrants towards the union, said Elena Yoncheva. It coordinated the negotiations on the new pact from 2021 and only on 20 December 2023 was an agreement reached between the European Parliament and the member states. It was not easy, it was even necessary to freeze the talks on all the regulations until the member states agreed to the solidarity mechanism, said the MEP.
Asked to comment on Bulgaria’s partial entry into the Schengen area, Elena Yoncheva said that it would have been a good deal if there was a date for the abolition of ground checks. More than 95% of our country’s trade turnover with the EU is overland, she recalled. The events that are coming in 2024 in Europe do not suggest an easy agreement on this, she pointed out and listed – the presidency of the EU Council during the year will first go to Belgium, and then to Hungary, for which the expansion of Schengen is not a priority. European elections will be held in mid-2024. It is also not clear what the composition of the Council will be, in which there may be representatives of the extreme right, for which Schengen is also not among the important topics.
The determination of a date for the admission of Bulgaria and Romania and by land into the free movement area is recorded in a tripartite statement with Austria – an annex to the EU decision on the partial entry into Schengen of December 29, 2023, but under condition. In the statement, Vienna sets several demands, with which Bulgaria and Romania agree. For one of them, it refers to the current Dublin Regulation to insist that Bulgaria take back refugees who are registered in our country, as required by the rules. In addition, the three countries undertake to react more quickly in this procedure, to have no limit on the number of returned refugees per month, to introduce stricter control of the border between Bulgaria and Romania, etc. What we got – increased control along the border with Romania. This is the opposite of Schengen, the MEP commented to bTV.
Lawyers, specialists in European law, with whom Elena Yoncheva consults, claim that the statement has no legally binding value for Bulgaria. According to international law, such joint statements are binding if they are clearly spelled out, she also commented. But under European law, a “statement” is not legally binding.
Due to publications in the Austrian media, citing members of the government in Vienna, that 6,000 migrants will be sent back to Bulgaria, on the first working day of the year Elena Yoncheva sent an official inquiry to the Minister of the Interior of Austria, Gerhard Karner. It demands clarification on this information – whether there really is a similar agreement with Sofia for 6,000 people, for what period they should return, as well as an explanation of what additional conditions need to be set, since Bulgaria strictly complies with the Dublin rules .
To bTV, Elena Yoncheva also commented on the situation in the Middle East. As vice-chairman of the EP Delegation for relations with Israel, she regularly receives information and analyzes about the current situation in the region. Following the Hamas attack on Israeli civilians on October 7, 2023, Israel retaliated by attacking the Palestinian organization’s fighters and structures in the Gaza Strip.
The battle against Hamas may have been successful in Gaza, but the ideology for which the organization exists cannot be destroyed unless the conditions are created. In time, another organization will appear, with a different name, said the MEP. One way to find a solution is to create two states. Elena Yoncheva cites a statement by the advisor to Israel’s former defense minister, Dr. Eli Karmon, who stated at a conference of the International Institute for Security and Cooperation on Saturday that Qatar financed Hamas with $1.5 billion, of which the military wing alone was allocated 700 million dollars, and this was done with the knowledge of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This is shared by other analysts and politicians in Israel, said Elena Yoncheva, who in October of this year was visiting there. One of the goals is to oppose Hamas to Fatah, the Palestinian organization in the West Bank.
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