The reform of the European Union's migration policy means that no country will be "left alone" to cope with irregular arrivals, says Ylva Johansson.
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00:00 Welcome to the State of the Union from Brussels.
00:04 Russia has been accused of financing part of its war against Ukraine through the lucrative
00:08 diamond trade, worth around 4 to 5 billion euros per year.
00:13 But this week the European Union included a ban on imports of Russian diamonds in its
00:18 12th package of sanctions against the country since the war began in February last year.
00:25 Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky welcomed the measure, saying that Russia must fill
00:29 that the pressure from the free world is increasing, as it is the cause of its aggression.
00:35 But how effective are these sanctions?
00:37 Euronews spoke to the United States Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, who is confident
00:43 about the economic indicators.
00:44 Russia's economy is smaller.
00:47 Russia has fewer people today and their economy is less flexible.
00:50 What Russia is today is a wartime economy.
00:53 They're trying to produce as many weapons as possible, but they're no longer producing
00:56 things that are going to strengthen their economy over time.
00:59 After years of discussions and late-night negotiations, an agreement was reached Wednesday
01:03 on reform of the European Union's migration system.
01:07 Members of the European Parliament and representatives of the 27 member states reached what they
01:12 called an historic agreement.
01:15 But the new pact on migration and asylum, as it is known, has been strongly criticized
01:20 by human rights activists, with some calling it an historic failure that will cause more
01:26 deaths at sea.
01:27 Euronews' Vicenzo Genovese spoke to Juva Johansson, the European Commissioner for Internal Affairs,
01:33 who has been working on the reform since 2020.
01:38 Good morning, Madam Commissioner, and thank you very much.
01:41 Good morning.
01:43 How this pact changes the European policy on migration?
01:47 In many aspects, all of them mostly, this is the first time that we have a comprehensive,
01:54 organized migration and asylum policy that has been agreed with such a broad majority.
02:01 That will make that we are protecting the right to apply for asylum better, that we
02:05 are protecting individuals and their living conditions for asylum seekers better, that
02:11 we will have swifter processes, not leaving people in limbo for a long time, and that
02:16 we also will have a mandatory solidarity mechanism that makes sure that no member state under
02:23 pressure will be left alone.
02:27 This solidarity mechanism is binding, is mandatory, as you said, but are the relocations of asylum
02:34 seekers to other member states mandatory too?
02:38 It's not mandatory for each member state to do relocation, but there is a mechanism in
02:45 the solidarity, the mandatory solidarity mechanism, that makes sure that we have enough of people's
02:52 solidarity, mainly relocation, that will be enough for a member state that needs it, a
02:58 member state under pressure or a member state in a crisis.
03:02 According to IOM, this year in 2023, more than 2,000 people died in the Mediterranean
03:09 Sea.
03:10 How this migration pact is tackling this issue?
03:14 This can only partly be dealt with on the EU legislation.
03:20 So what we are doing is a better protection for those that are being rescued for search
03:24 and rescue cases, for the relocation, for example.
03:28 But to tackle this tragedy that so many people actually lose their lives, when they pay the
03:36 smugglers and they are luring them into deadly journeys, to tackle this, we first need to
03:43 fight the smugglers.
03:45 And that's why I proposed one month ago two new legislation when it comes to fighting
03:50 the migrant smugglers.
03:51 And I also hosted a big global conference where we formed or launched a global alliance
03:58 to counter migrant smuggling.
04:00 So that is one part we need to do.
04:02 The second part we need to do is to work with countries of origin and countries of transit
04:07 along the routes to prevent these dangerous journeys to take part in the first place.
04:13 And then I would like to add, we need to step up on legal pathways to come to the European
04:18 Union.
04:19 We are an ageing society.
04:21 We also need migrants, but they have to come in an orderly and safe way.
04:26 And do you fear that some EU countries can challenge these rules, can avoid to implement
04:32 the new pact on migration?
04:34 No, I'm not afraid of that.
04:36 But of course, if that happens, we have regulations in place.
04:39 The Commission is the guardian of the treaty.
04:41 But what we have rebuilt is trust between member states.
04:46 We have seen a lot of much more cooperation.
04:49 Member states realize that working alone, trying to tackle the migration challenge alone
04:55 is a lose-lose situation.
04:59 But when we work close together, supporting each other, then there is a win-win situation
05:04 and all member states are stronger and the whole European Union is stronger.
05:09 The current Spanish presidency of the EU coordinated another negotiating marathon on another key
05:14 issue it wanted to close by the end of the year.
05:18 The bloc's finance ministers sealed a deal to reform the European Union fiscal rules
05:23 enshrined in the so-called Stability and Growth Pact.
05:27 Those rules compel all 27 countries to keep their budget deficits under 3% and their public
05:33 debt levels below 60% of the gross domestic product.
05:38 The targets remain, but the reform makes considerable alterations to how the two figures have to
05:43 be met in practice.
05:45 The rules are more credible and more realistic because they respond to the reality of the
05:51 post-pandemic world and the reality that there has been a very significant increase in the
05:57 levels of deficit and the rates of debt of all member states.
06:02 The traditional image of Santa Claus driving a sleigh pulled by reindeer through the snow
06:20 has long been challenged by a wide variety of activities.
06:24 In the warmest regions of Europe, like Spain, entering the ocean is still an option.
06:29 And it was exactly what dozens of Santa Claus's did, taking part in a group pedal board session
06:34 in Barcelona for the ninth consecutive year.
06:38 This year they were raising funds for research on ALS, a fatal type of motor neuron disease.
06:43 Surely this will inspire similar charitable activities to be carried out in Santa's festive
06:49 attire.
06:50 That is all from me.
06:51 Thanks for your attention and have a very Merry Christmas.