The European Commission recently called for member states to increase
the pace of their relocation efforts and fulfill political commitments to
support the European Border and Coast Guard Agency in terms of manpower and
equipment.
“Responsibility cannot be fairly shared without solidarity,”
Dimitris Avramopoulos, commissioner for Migration, Home Affairs
and Citizenship, said in an announcement. “All our measures are interlinked, and
member states cannot cherry-pick what they deliver on.”
The calls come as relocation levels have reached their fastest pace
yet, at 1,940 in February, but still fall below the European Council’s endorsed
targets of 3,000 relocations from Greece and 1,500 from Italy each month.
The commission reiterated the need for shared responsibility and solidarity in
supporting the fledgeling European Border and Coast Guard Agency and highlighted the
successes of the European Union-Turkey Statement, which has reduced crossings but not yet
managed to tamp them down enough to allow returns to outpace arrivals in Greece.
“To improve our management of migration we need to continue to
implement our comprehensive approach – from relocation and resettlement, to the
operationalisation of the European Border and Coast Guard and through continued
engagement with Turkey,”
Frans Timmermans, European
Commission first vice president, said. “All these
measures have the principle of solidarity and fair sharing of responsibility at
their core – a principle that binds each member state.”
