Madrid (EFE) and Poland.
In the presentation of the priorities of the Spanish Presidency of the Council of the European Union, the head of the Executive highlighted the success of the Swedish Presidency in getting an agreement approved by the Interior Ministers on June 8 to reform the community club’s asylum rules.
He pointed out that after the agreement reached on the asylum and migration management regulations and on the regulations on asylum procedures, in which other countries such as Malta or Bulgaria abstained, only a third element remains, which is the management regulation crisis, which would complete the Migration and Asylum Pact.
April 2024 deadline
The EU wants to have concluded this pact before the end of the current community legislature, that is, no later than April 2024, and Sánchez has assured that the work is well advanced.
He pointed out that Spain has had its vision on this issue, being a country of first entry, and has defended that countries cannot be divided since “we are all victims of irregular immigration”.
In this sense, it has raised, as it has been doing since the beginning in Europe, the need to reinforce the external dimension of the migratory phenomenon, through collaboration with the countries of transit and origin.
Solidarity and responsibility must be combined, the president insisted, and a balance between the two must be achieved.
The so-called migration pact of the European Union (EU) was agreed last week with the support of the majority of the member countries and only Hungary and Poland voted against, so, if they maintain their position, they must pay to a community fund 20,000 euros for each person they refuse to take in.