Spain is one of four EU member states that, due to strong migration pressure with a “disproportionate number” of irregular arrivals, will next year have access to the Common Solidarity Fund set out in the EU Migration and Asylum Charter that will enter into force in mid-2026, the European Commission announced on Tuesday. This would allow Spanish authorities to request the transfer of some asylum seekers to other community countries or receive financial compensation if a country refuses to accept its distribution quota.
Although the mechanism, which seeks to redistribute at least 30,000 asylum seekers annually, will be mandatory, Brussels has proposed enough flexibility to appease the most conservative, it hopes; Especially for Poland, which warned from the beginning that it was not prepared to receive more immigrants or pay the costs of their stay in another country. In this case, the European executive devised an exception that would mitigate Warsaw’s refusal.
According to European Commissioner for Migration Magnus Brunner, in addition to Spain, the first countries that will be able to benefit from this solidarity or reserve fund, if they wish, are Italy, Cyprus and Greece.
The mechanism provides for different options for compensation by the remaining states: they can agree to transfer part of the claimants to their territory or pay financial “compensation”. “Alternative solidarity” measures must also be provided by mutual agreement with the country seeking to alleviate its migration pressure, which could be financial, material or personal assistance, among others.
Although negotiations on closing the migration agreement reached their peak in 2023, and there was talk of imposing a quota of up to 22 thousand euros per refugee on countries that refuse to welcome them, the Commission is now avoiding specifying a number. This will be the task of the Council, that is, the countries, which must agree to the proposal presented on Tuesday and convene a “high-level solidarity forum” to determine the global amount of the common fund – which two years ago was estimated at no less than 600 million euros – and each country’s contribution to it. Only then, and on this basis, as the Committee explains, will the “global amount” of solidarity for the following year be determined and the common or reserve fund formally approved.
An example of how complex the conversation about migration in the EU has become, with more and more countries calling for tougher measures and now openly proposing to create migrant centers outside their borders along the lines of the Albanian model in Italy or even the Rwandan model that the UK has taken into account, is the delay in the Brunner announcement. Initially, the Commission was scheduled to present its proposal on distributing the burden of hosting asylum seekers in mid-October, but the date was postponed without a date – until now – due to the reservations of several countries about being part of this solidarity fund, although Commission sources claim that it also needs more time to work on the first annual report on migration and asylum on which the proposals of the beneficiary countries are based.
According to this first report, the migration situation of the community bloc showed “continuous improvement” between July 2024 and June of this year. In fact, irregular entries have been reduced by 35%, thanks to “greater cooperation with allied countries”, says Brussels. However, the report stresses that challenges remain, in particular due to the continuing pressure of irregular arrivals and unauthorized movements within the EU – so-called secondary movements – but also due to the reception of refugees from Ukraine, the “exploitation” of migration by Russia and Belarus at the external borders and in matters of cooperation for returns and readmission to countries of origin.
Based on these challenges, the Commission has drawn up a list of “level of migration pressure” for the 27 Member States. In the highest category is Spain and the three other Mediterranean countries that will have access to the Solidarity Fund.
The committee also identified 12 countries that are at “risk of migration pressure” due to high numbers of arrivals in the previous year or because of “persistent tensions in their reception systems.” The third recognized factor for this category is the “threat of migration exploitation,” as happened in the 2021 migration crisis, where the Belarusian regime of Alexander Lukashenko sent (and helped attempt the crossing of) thousands of migrants to eastern-side countries, exploiting their vulnerability.
These countries, which include Belgium, France, Germany, Poland and Finland, will have “priority access” to EU migration support tools. Furthermore, Brussels indicates that its situation will be reassessed “in an accelerated manner” if it deteriorates. Many of these countries, especially France and Germany, have hardened their rhetoric on immigration in the face of the far-right’s advances in electoral processes.
The Commission identifies a third group of countries – Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Croatia, Austria and Poland – which it considers to be in a “significant migration situation” due to “accumulated” pressures over the past five years. For this reason, it gives them the possibility to ask the Council – which will have the final say on this – to grant them a “full or partial deduction” from their scheduled contributions to the Solidarity Fund for next year.
The Immigration Commissioner described the proposal as balanced in order to “regain the confidence” of countries, as well as “regain control” of borders in a “fair and firm” immigration system.
“We are turning the page, showing control and unity, and supporting member states facing disproportionate pressure,” he stressed. He added, “Maintaining this balance between solidarity and responsibility is the key to our success. We must continue to strengthen controls and procedures at the border, and accelerate the asylum process and effective return.”
In this sense, Austrian Brunner, who does not hide his preference for a stricter migration route, noted that the Commission’s proposals to reform return systems have not yet been approved, as well as a common list of “safe countries of origin” to simplify – and perhaps reject more quickly – border procedures for asylum seekers from those countries. Also still pending is a controversial list of “safe third countries” which would allow the development of a proposal to set up deportation centers in non-EU countries and expand the list of third countries to which migrants could be deported.
About The Author
