In this edition of State of the Union, we focus on the climate ruling against Switzerland, fairness in the European election campaign and the new EU Migration and Asylum Pact
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00:00 Hello and welcome to State of the Union, I'm Stephan Grobe in Brussels.
00:10 Switzerland is a country we rarely talk about on this show.
00:14 The Confederacy is not a member of the EU, but it ranks highest in the politically stable,
00:19 well-governed and high ethical standards metrics, and it appears among the top five nations
00:25 under the sustainable future metric.
00:28 The last reputation though took a heavy blow this week.
00:31 The European Court of Human Rights ruled that Swiss authorities are responsible for not
00:36 implementing efficient climate policies and thus violating the right to life of its people.
00:42 The judgment doesn't include any sanctions, but sets an important precedent that will
00:46 likely reverberate across future lawsuits.
00:49 The reaction of the Swiss government was rather, well, meek.
01:09 The ruling of the court is binding, meaning Switzerland must act.
01:14 If Berne did, it would add enormous credibility to the democratic system.
01:20 Gaining democratic credibility was also on the EU agenda this week.
01:24 To ensure transparency and fairness of the upcoming European elections, almost all political
01:29 groups in the parliament signed a code of conduct.
01:33 The signatories especially pledged not to produce, use or disseminate misleading content,
01:39 generated for example by artificial intelligence.
01:44 Brussels praised the code of conduct as an important means to fight against the high
01:47 level of public distrust in the European institutions.
02:13 And right on cue, the system showed that it can produce meaningful results.
02:18 After years of negotiations, the European Parliament adopted the new EU Migration and
02:23 Asylum Pact, a series of laws designed to streamline migration policy and fix the current
02:29 status quo.
02:31 Yet, the compromise is not appreciated everywhere.
02:34 Some wanted even tougher rules.
02:37 Others worry about the respective human rights of migrants and their families.
02:41 Joining me now is Yves Getty, head of the European Institutions Office of Amnesty International
02:46 and Director of Advocacy.
02:48 Welcome to the program.
02:49 Thank you for having me.
02:52 So Amnesty has been very critical of the reform package since it was first proposed four years
02:57 ago.
02:58 I'll come to this criticism in a minute, but first, are there any positive elements
03:02 of the pact?
03:03 Well, positive in that we do have now an agreement.
03:07 Positive in that the ongoing negotiations have come to a close.
03:12 But in terms of the technical detail of the agreement, for us, this is not at all positive.
03:17 What we have really here is a downgrading of asylum law.
03:21 We have also a rollout of detention, increase of detention and normalization of detention
03:28 across Europe.
03:29 And we have what is really kind of a lowest common denominator approach.
03:33 There is really opportunity for Europe as a group of 27 states with a common approach.
03:39 We think to come up with something really very much better.
03:42 You're also saying the pact would put people at heightened risk of human rights violations.
03:47 Why is that so?
03:48 Exactly.
03:49 Because, I mean, what we're seeing also is with this pact that there's going to be less
03:52 legal support for people when they arrive.
03:55 They'll be put through an accelerated procedure.
03:58 And with this pact, EU member states have created this legal fiction of non-entry so
04:04 that a person can be on European territory physically, but actually denied by the pact
04:10 the protections and rights which align with that.
04:12 That's also something that's very concerning, even beyond migration, just for rule of law
04:18 and human rights in Europe more generally.
04:20 Yet the defenders of the reform consider it a fair improvement between far-right obstructionism
04:26 and far-left fantasy solutions.
04:29 Where do you come down on this?
04:31 I think we would like to see kind of less pride from legislators on reaching an agreement
04:37 and actually more responsibilities about the real consequences of this agreement.
04:42 For us, it will really not do anything to improve Europe's common response to migration
04:46 and protect all peoples at borders.
04:48 We've been long been calling on EU institutions and member states to move away from short-term
04:53 political interests which sideline human rights and really look to a longer-term future-proof
04:59 facility.
05:00 Again, there are a lot of criticisms on both sides.
05:02 Now, worldwide, more than 110 million people are forcibly displaced.
05:08 What can we expect when the pact comes into force in 2026?
05:12 I think when it comes into force, it's going to be even while the standards that we set
05:15 as amnesty are very low, for us these standards are much lower than we would have liked and
05:20 which actually international law and international refugee law require.
05:25 It is important, I think, that the Commission starts also enforcing the standards that it
05:28 has in place.
05:29 It's not that we've come to 2024 with no EU standards or international standards.
05:34 We have those, but what we have is member states opting in and opting out and frequently
05:38 often violating these standards.
05:40 So a key thing for us will be enforcement, accountability for standards that do exist.
05:45 All right, Eve Getty, head of the European Institutions Office of Amnesty International.
05:50 Thank you for your insights.
05:51 Thank you for having me.
05:54 We started the show with Switzerland and we're going to end it with Switzerland.
05:59 In Geneva, watchmakers are once again showcasing their most luxurious and spectacular creations
06:05 at the Watches and Wonders Fair.
06:08 No cost of living crisis here.
06:11 Industry sources say consumers are still willing to spend between 1,000 and 3,000 euro for
06:16 a Swiss watch.
06:18 But that kind of money is not remotely enough to buy the biggest or the thinnest watches
06:24 on display.
06:25 Or how about the most accurate moon-face watch ever produced?
06:30 A watch called Portugieser Eternal Calendar automatically accounts for leap years.
06:37 This means it will only deviate by one day over 45 million years.
06:43 Well, would you have the patience to check?
06:47 For up to 50,000 euros, you could be one with eternity.
06:53 That's it for this edition.
06:54 I'm Stefan Grobe.
06:55 Thank you for watching.
06:57 Have an excellent week.
06:58 Thank you.