Luxembourg will continue its participation in the relocation mechanism under the condition that more member states also join the efforts. Photo: foreign ministry

Luxembourg will continue its participation in the relocation mechanism under the condition that more member states also join the efforts. Photo: foreign ministry

At a meeting on Thursday, EU justice and foreign ministers discussed the asylum and migration pact, with France hoping to break the deadlock on the negotiations during its presidency. Luxembourg’s foreign minister Jean Asselborn (LSAP) highlighted the need for member states to share the cost of relocation of migrants.

French president Emmanuel Macron made a push for moving the discussions forward prior to the informal meeting of the Justice and Foreign Affairs Council. The French presidency of the Council of the EU proposed a step-by-step approach to achieve progress on the asylum and migration pact, which has been a point of contention for member states in the past.

The first of the proposed measures, which France aims to finalise during its Council presidency, aims to reach an agreement on reworking the Eurodac regulation which sets in place a database of fingerprints of irregular migrants. Its purpose to identify where they have entered the EU and if they have previously made an asylum application.

Asselborn noted during the Justice and Foreign Affairs Council that the discussions were less tense than in the past. Regarding the EU’s screening procedures, he highlighted that asylum seekers must not be deprived of their freedom if they have requested international protection in an EU country.

Luxembourg will continue its participation in the relocation mechanism under the condition that more member states also join the efforts. While Asselborn also added that “the participating States must be able to count on support that takes into account the real costs of relocation". Luxembourg’s position is that states that do not participate in relocation should contribute financially to the costs which fall on host countries.

The proposals put forward by France includes the creation of a Schengen Council, a new body that would gather members of the free-passport area to discuss migration policies.

A compromise package of the measures proposed by the French presidency of the Council could take shape in time for the Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting on 3 March when the issue will be revisited.

A possible stumbling block in the discussions remain tacking countries’ efforts to instigate irregular migratory flows with the prime example of that being Belarusian president Alexander Lukashenko inviting thousands of people to Belarus promising them entrance into EU countries. Poland and Lithuania plan to set up border barriers while the European Commission is against the use of EU funds for such constructions.