Annexes to COM(2016)416 - Fourth report on relocation and resettlement

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dossier COM(2016)416 - Fourth report on relocation and resettlement.
document COM(2016)416 EN
date June 15, 2016
agreements or to use other existing police cooperation channels and instruments to permit law enforcement authorities and Europol to compare and exchange fingerprint data for security and criminal purposes.


Actions to address challenges related to the relocation of vulnerable applicants and unaccompanied minors: specific procedures to facilitate the relocation of unaccompanied minors have not yet been developed. This is becoming a key priority given also that they (as well as other vulnerable groups) should be treated as a priority according to the Council Decisions on relocation and given also the increasing number of Eritrean unaccompanied minors arriving in Italy.


Actions to increase migrants' trust in the scheme and avoid withdrawals: in the initial stages of relocation, those eligible were unwilling to join the scheme due partially to lack of trust. The situation has changed significantly. According to reports from EASO, UNHCR and organisations managing the various C.A.R.A (centro di accoglienza richiedenti asilo), hotspots and relocation hubs, almost all those eligible for relocation are adamant to participate in the scheme. However, this trust is fragile and the length of the procedure and possible problems in the reception conditions in the Member States of relocation can easily undermine the credibility of the scheme and reverse this trend.


2.3Actions by the Commission and EU agencies


• European Commission


The Commission has continued supporting Italy and Greece on the ground. The Commission has organised specific meetings to address the bottlenecks in the relocation of unaccompanied minors and has recently finalised several visits to Italy to identify possible solutions to speed up relocation transfers to reach a pace similar to Greece. The Commission is still working with the Netherlands Presidency of the Council of the EU to develop a questionnaire to identify Member States' security concerns and to find ways to address them.


The Commission has been providing substantial funding to Greece to support the country in its efforts to bring its asylum management system up to EU standards. On 20 May EUR 56 million in emergency funding from Home Affairs funds (Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund (AMIF) and Internal Security Fund (ISF)) have been awarded respectively to the Greek authorities (EUR 13 million), to IOM (EUR 13 million) and to UNHCR (EUR 30 million), to increase the capacities of the Greek authorities to register newly arriving migrants and to process their asylum claims, while on 24 May the Commission awarded EUR 25 million in emergency funding (AMIF) to EASO to enhance its capacity to further support the Greek authorities. With this latest funding, the Commission has awarded to Greece, since the beginning of 2015, a total of EUR 262 million in emergency assistance from Home Affairs funds (AMIF and ISF), either directly to the Greek authorities or through Union Agencies and international organisations operating in the country. 31


Finally, as part of its monitoring of the implementation of the Council Decisions on relocation, the Commission raised and will continue to raise concerns with those Member States that so far have not complied with their obligations.


• European Asylum Support Office


Actions to speed up the relocation process and increase the registration capacity of the Greece and Italy: EASO has increased its support to the Greek Asylum Service in the reporting period from 24 Member States experts to 39. 19 experts are supporting the registration process directly through joint processing. One expert supports the Dublin Unit and 18 are involved in information provision managing two hotlines and providing information in the camps regarding registation, relocation and Dublin procedures. A further planned increase of staff, with another 18 Member States experts to support the registration, had to be postponed as a number of the Asylum Service staff are engaged in the pre-registration exercise. To avoid the build up of a back-log at the level of registration, once the pre-registration has been completed, EASO is still planning to increase its support to the registration process. EASO visited Greece to look into the possibilities to further support the matching process (aimed at matching applicants to specific Member States) and made recommendations to enhance it.


In Italy, EASO is deploying 29 out of 61 requested experts from Member States and associated countries: 6 experts in the hotspots, 5 experts in two mobile teams (based in Rome and Catania), 12 experts in relocation hubs, and 6 experts in the Dublin Unit in Rome. EASO is also deploying up to 48 cultural mediators (for Arabic, Tigrinya and Kurdish) to support the relocation process (as of 6 June 36 cultural mediators deployed on the ground).


EASO asylum support teams have drafted a contingency plan which has been agreed with the Italian authorities to manage the expected increase of arrivals providing for additional support measures to be implemented to ensure that relocation process can continue at a suitable pace. According to this plan, 74 additional EASO experts would be needed. EASO also continues to apply a flexible approach thanks to the deployment of mobile teams, although given the increase in the number of applicants for relocation, the mobile teams in Catania and Rome need to be reinforced. Additional nominations will also be needed once new hotspots are opened in line with plans announced by Italian authorities.

3Resettlement

Based on the information received from the participating States 7,272 people have been resettled in the period until 10 June 2016 in the framework of the resettlement scheme of 20 July 2015 to 19 resettling States (Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom). A majority of States participating in the scheme indicated that their resettlement efforts were primarily, but not exclusively, directed at Syrians staying in Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. Member States should consider in the future the case for including resettlement from priority countries identified for the compacts. 32


The number of resettlements from Turkey continues to increase as Member States finalise their assessments of files referred to them by Turkey via UNHCR. Since 4 April 2016, 511 Syrians have been resettled from Turkey under the resettlement part of the 1:1 scheme. 33 An increased number of Member States are also actively participating in the scheme. Since the last progress report, in addition to Finland, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Sweden, resettlements have also taken place to Italy, Luxembourg, and Portugal.


Standard Operating Procedures for a Voluntary Humanitarian Admission Scheme with Turkey, to be activated once irregular crossings between Turkey and the EU are ending or at least have been substantially and sustainably reduced, are currently being developed in the Council in close cooperation with the Commission, EASO, UNHCR and IOM. The text was shared with Turkey on 7 June with a view to finalising negotiations by the end of the month.


While the Council, at the level of COREPER, has endorsed the proposal tabled by the Commission on 21 March 2016 to make available further places for resettlement or other forms of legal admission from Turkey by amending Council Decision (EU) 2015/1601 of 22 September to relocate applicants for international protection from Italy and Greece, the Opinion of the European Parliament on the Decision is still pending. MEP Ska Keller (Rapporteur) presented a draft Opinion to LIBE Committee on 26 May and the deadline for amendments was set at 9 June. Several Member States have stated their expectation that the agreement on the proposal should be reached as soon as possible.

4Way forward

Greece continues facing a humanitarian crisis that requires a quick and full implementation of the obligations assumed by Member States in the Council Decisions on relocation. As for Italy, as per the expected seasonable patterns of migration, the number of arrivals is increasing with sharp spikes over short periods with several simultaneous disembarkations of large numbers of people and pointing to a rapid increase of applicants for relocation.


The European Council Conclusions 34 have recognised the urgency of the situation and called for an acceleration of relocation. The calls made by the Heads of State or Government must be matched with determined action by the competent national services on the ground.


The Commission acknowledges the progress and efforts that have been made, which are reflected in the increased rate of relocation. However, the results achieved do not yet measure up to the calls made and the scale of the challenge faced. The Commission considered in its First Report on Relocation and Resettlement 35 that at least 6,000 relocations should be completed per month.


The summer months will be critical for relocation. Greece has started a mass, rapid pre-registration exercise that will accelerate the identification and full registration of relocation applicants.


Greece needs to continue increasing its processing capacity to avoid creating a bottleneck after the pre-registration is completed so that applicants can fully lodge their applications as swiftly as possible, establish the additional relocation centres and relocate those that are eligible.


In Italy, the sharp increase of relocation applicants (4,000 Eritreans to be relocated), due to the success of information provision and the increase in arrivals of nationals eligible for relocation, requires Italian authorities to quickly step up its hotspots and processing capacity. Italy should also establish specific procedures allowing for the relocation of unaccompanied minors and improve their accommodation conditions.


For their part, Member States should urgently provide an adequate response by increasing the number of pledges, carefully planning relocation transfers for the upcoming six months and reducing the response time to relocation requests (including limiting additional security checks to only specific and duly justified cases). Greece and Italy will also need additional support from Member States to deploy EASO experts to increase the registration and these should be deployed for at least six months.


The Commission urges Member States to fully comply with their obligations under the Council Decisions on relocation, and calls on all Member States to engage more actively in relocation and pledge and relocate in accordance with their allocation. Those Member States who have not yet made any pledges, or have not yet relocated anyone, should do so without delay.


The Commission will continue to closely monitor and report monthly on the implementation of the two Council Decisions on relocation. The Commission reserves the right to take action against those Member States not complying with their obligations.


In parallel, Member States should continue delivering on their resettlement commitments, including as part of the implementation of the EU-Turkey Statement. 36  

(1)

COM(2016) 222 final.

(2)

Irregular arrivals from 14 May until 10 June- Source Frontex, as reported by Greece in the frame of the Western Balkans daily report.

(3)

Source: Greece authorities and UNHCR.

(4)

  http://data.unhcr.org/mediterranean/country.php?id=83 .

(5)

The number of irregular arrivals in Italy through sea borders from 14 May until 10 June as reported in JORA (Joint Operations Reporting Applications) and collected in the frame of the Joint Operation Triton 2016. Data may be subject to changes after validation.

(6)

SN 38/16, 18.03.2016.

(7)

20 to Belgium, 38 to Finland, 192 to France, 41 to Luxembourg, 13 to Malta, 58 to the Netherlands, 148 to Portugal, 84 to Spain.

(8)

5 to Belgium, 6 to Cyprus, 32 to Finland, 44 to France, 2 to Malta, 25 to the Netherlands, 20 to Portugal, 6 to Slovenia, 22 to Spain and 24 to Switzerland.

(9)

29 to Cyprus, 8 to Estonia, 57 to Finland, 126 to France, 31 to Ireland, 18 to Latvia, 27 to Lithuania, 42 to the Netherlands, 61 to Portugal, 52 to Romania and 60 to Spain.

(10)

6 to Cyprus.

(11)

Finland- 16%, Luxembourg- 13%, Malta- 31% and Portugal- 13%.

(12)

Bulgaria 50 for Italy and 50 for Greece, Estonia 20 for Greece, Finland 100 for Italy, France 50 for Italy and 400 for Greece, Germany 100 for Greece, Latvia 55 for Greece, Lithuania 10 for Italy and 80 for Greece Luxembourg 20 for Italy and 30 for Greece, the Netherlands 50 for Italy and 100 for Greece, Portugal 400 for Greece, Romania 70 for Italy and 130 for Greece, Slovakia 10 for Greece and Spain 200 for Greece.

(13)

30 for Greece.

(14)

Note that in the previous reporting period a formal pledge made by Romania had not been taken into account; on the other hand a pledge from Luxembourg for 30 people was reported, while the formal pledge for 20 people only took place during the current reporting period.

(15)

Note that the formal pledge from Croatia for 20 people (10 for Greece and 10 for Italy) will only be active from July onwards.

(16)

Austria benefits from a temporary suspension of the relocation of up to 30% of applicants allocated to Austria under Council Decision (EU) 2015/1601. As a consequence Austria has a one year suspension relating to the relocation of 1,065 persons. However, the normal legal obligations apply to Austria in respect of the relocation of the remaining allocations, so pledges and relocations are nevertheless expected.

(17)

In early April Poland suspended the processing of 73 relocation requests that the Greek Asylum Service sent to Poland on the basis of a pledge that Poland submitted on 16 December 2015 thus de facto freezing the relocation procedure three and a half months after the submission of the pledge. The same applies to requests from Italy.

(18)

It should be noted that the Czech Republic and Slovakia have rejected the majority of relocation requests sent.

(19)

The remaining 399 probably left Greece when the northern border was opened.

(20)

Available at: http://tvnewsroom.consilium.europa.eu/video/how-relocation-works-the-experience-of-a-syrian-family  

(21)

Switzerland, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Estonia, United Kingdom, Romania and Malta.

(22)

This is EASO's fifth call for experts to support relocation in Greece which was launched on 21 April and which was first reported in the Third Report on Relocation and Resettlement.

(23)

Finland, France, Germany, Lithuania, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Romania and Sweden.

(24)

https://www.easo.europa.eu/news-events/joint-press-release-pre-registration-asylum-seekers-greek-mainland-starting-today.

(25)

  http://www.media.gov.gr/index.php ;

http://rrse-smi.maps.arcgis.com/apps/MapSeries/index.html?appid=d5f377f7f6f2418b8ebadaae638df2e1

These temporary emergency and permanent facilities are established on the Aegean islands in the hotspots as well as on the mainland. As of 2 June 2016, there are currently only 1 108 permanent accommodation places that exclusively host applicants for international protection and unaccompanied minors.

(26)

Commission Recommendation addressed to the Hellenic Republic on the specific urgent measures to be taken by Greece in view of the resumption of transfers under Regulation (EU) No. 604/2013, C(2016) 3805.

(27)

Delegation Agreement with UNHCR for the 20,000 places rental scheme primarily benefits asylum seekers eligible for relocation, but can also benefit other applicants for family reunification in another EU Member State and persons seeking asylum in Greece, particularly vulnerable applicants. The 6,000 places to be made available for relocation centres are expected to become the main accommodation for relocation beneficiaries.

(28)

The relocation centres are to be funded by the EU as part of the delegation agreement with UNHCR for the accommodation rental scheme.

(29)

The text is publicly available at: http://www.libertaciviliimmigrazione.dlci.interno.gov.it/it/hotspot .

(30)

This possibility exists in some hubs but not in Castelnuovo di Porto which has not been officially designated as relocation hub but through which a significant number of relocation applicants transit before the transfer to another Member State.

(31)

 This emergency assistance comes on top of the EUR 509 million allocated to Greece for the period 2014-2020 through its national programmes under the Home Affairs Funds (AMIF and ISF), where substantial funding is also available to support the implementation of asylum policies.

(32)

Communication on establishing a new Partnership Framework with third countries under the European Agenda on Migration, COM(2016) 385 final, p.8. This will be done in full respect of the relevant Protocols to the Treaties as they apply to certain Member States.

(33)

Second Report on the progress made in the implementation of the EU-Turkey Statement (COM(2016) 349).

(34)

European Council Conclusions of 7 March 2016. http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/press/press-releases/2016/03/07-eu-turkey-meeting-statement

(35)

COM(2016) 165 final.


(36)

Second Report on the progress made in the implementation of the EU-Turkey Statement (COM(2016) 349).