Reformation of the Dublin Treaty: present situation and next steps

On December 14th a meeting was held in Rome to analyze the proposal of the European Parliament. Among the participants, the Mediterranean Hope project coordinator, Paolo Naso

Arrival of a Humanitarian Corridor in Fiumicino Airport

Rome (NEV), December 16, 2017 – All the organizations involved in asylum and immigration issues – whose contribution was fundamental during the whole process that led, on last November 16th, to the approval by the European Parliament of the reformation proposal of the Dublin Treaty – were invited to a debate on the reformation of the Dublin Treaty, promoted by “Possibile” (a left wing movement).

The meeting, held on December 14th in Rome and organized on the initiative of Elly Schlein, member of the European Parliament and speaker of the Socialists & Democrats (S&D) group, was introduced by Giuseppe Civati, secretary of “Possibile”. It saw the participation, among others, of Paolo Naso, coordinator of Mediterranean Hope, refugees and migrants Program of the Federation of Protestant Churches in Italy (FCEI); Riccardo Noury (Amnesty International – Italy), Gianfranco Schiavone (Association for the Law studies on Immigration – Asgi); Antonella Inverno (Save the Children).

Elly Schlein: “The reformation – already ratified on October 19 last by the Commission for Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE) of the European Parliament – expresses a strong and ambitious position which finally cancels the criterion of the first country of access, and replaces it with a permanent and automatic mechanism of responsibilities’ sharing of Member States. In view of the hard negotiations with the European Council, it is important that experts, associations, citizens and all other involved subjects of the civil society, put the European governments under pressure to approve a truly European and supportive reformation”.

Paolo Naso named the “Humanitarian Corridors” project, an Italian and ecumenical proposal coming from the Civil Society that has been successful so far, as a model to be taken seriously at the EU level. He also acknowledged the fact that in the current political debate a worrying disconnection between rationality and emotionality has taken place when it comes to migration issues.