The EU Council has agreed on a decision on operational coordination re external aspects of migration - data.consilium.europa.eu/doc/document/S…
The idea is to coordinate different aspects of EU reaction re migrants/refugees at the Belarus border. Frankly I think the legal basis here is dubious.
The idea is to coordinate different aspects of EU reaction re migrants/refugees at the Belarus border. Frankly I think the legal basis here is dubious.
It implements the Council decision implementing the 'solidarity clause' in the treaties - eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…
The solidarity clause, Art 222 TFEU (eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…), is about reaction to "a terrorist attack or the victim of a natural or man-made disaster"
The solidarity clause, Art 222 TFEU (eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/…), is about reaction to "a terrorist attack or the victim of a natural or man-made disaster"
One might argue that loss of life/living conditions on the Belarus border is a "man-made disaster", but the new decision does not explicitly set this out. Its focus is coordination of external aspects of migration, without referring back to the solidarity clause conditions.
This might be a turf battle (Council v Commission; foreign ministries v others) and/or political theatre - it's not clear what the decision means in practical terms.
Faffing around with a pointless gesture might even be a positive thing, if it provides an excuse not to go ahead with - or to water down/reject further worsening of - the proposed EU emergency asylum laws to be used at the Belarus border. That's not a legal argument, however.
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