No EU country will be 'left alone' to cope with irregular migration, says Ylva Johansson
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.