Neither hotspots nor political oppositions. The EU relocation mechanism doesn't work because of lack of operational measures
by Emanuele Bonini
European strategy for migration doesn't work. Practical problems were not taken into account when both EU leaders and the head of State and head of governments had to decide the relocation scheme. Forget quotas, real problems are elsewhere. Of course quotas represent a political issue, but even in case of political decision the EU plan can't work. There are not direct flight to move migrants from a place to another, agreements between Member States and airlines to facilitate boarding procedures for people with no documents are not in place, military flights are too expensive, low-cost carriers are still not involved. Basically hotspots appear as last problems to thing about. This is the situation after months of intensive political debate. Fences are there, while all the rest is missing. Greece is waiting a transfer of migrants from the Hellenic Republic to Luxembourg, but no plane took off with such passengers on board. The reason is because of no direct connection between Greek and Luxembourgish airports, and special agreements have been signed only with Aegean. That means no operators can guarantee on normal flights a reservation of seats for migrants and people who travel with them. Europe was and still is under pressure, and the need of a rapid reaction to the migration flows crisis forced all decision makers to take actions. To do something has been translated in practice as "let's show we do something", and the result is a confusion that perfectly reflects what Europe is about today.
People considering the political resistance as the major problem underestimated the operational problems this migration crisis is posing in Europe. Hasty, superficial, not reasoned at all: this is how the European Union dealt with migration. Of course emergency has required immediate reactions, but everything decided hasn't been considered properly. All the actions has been thought as granted while reality shows decision makers made it too easy. So, from Italy departed only 86 migrants, nothing compared to the 1.600 people to be relocated every month in order to fulfil the EU obligations and be in line with the EU relocation scheme. Margaritis Schinas, chief spokesperson of the European Commission, stated that «there is no time for delays as well as there is no time for bureaucracy». According to him «it is time to act, and to act quickly». He's right, the point now is how to go ahead, what to do. Special procedures can be agreed easier among governments rather than between institutions and private companies as airlines are. Brussels, we've had a problem. Apparently great haste made great waste.
European strategy for migration doesn't work. Practical problems were not taken into account when both EU leaders and the head of State and head of governments had to decide the relocation scheme. Forget quotas, real problems are elsewhere. Of course quotas represent a political issue, but even in case of political decision the EU plan can't work. There are not direct flight to move migrants from a place to another, agreements between Member States and airlines to facilitate boarding procedures for people with no documents are not in place, military flights are too expensive, low-cost carriers are still not involved. Basically hotspots appear as last problems to thing about. This is the situation after months of intensive political debate. Fences are there, while all the rest is missing. Greece is waiting a transfer of migrants from the Hellenic Republic to Luxembourg, but no plane took off with such passengers on board. The reason is because of no direct connection between Greek and Luxembourgish airports, and special agreements have been signed only with Aegean. That means no operators can guarantee on normal flights a reservation of seats for migrants and people who travel with them. Europe was and still is under pressure, and the need of a rapid reaction to the migration flows crisis forced all decision makers to take actions. To do something has been translated in practice as "let's show we do something", and the result is a confusion that perfectly reflects what Europe is about today.
People considering the political resistance as the major problem underestimated the operational problems this migration crisis is posing in Europe. Hasty, superficial, not reasoned at all: this is how the European Union dealt with migration. Of course emergency has required immediate reactions, but everything decided hasn't been considered properly. All the actions has been thought as granted while reality shows decision makers made it too easy. So, from Italy departed only 86 migrants, nothing compared to the 1.600 people to be relocated every month in order to fulfil the EU obligations and be in line with the EU relocation scheme. Margaritis Schinas, chief spokesperson of the European Commission, stated that «there is no time for delays as well as there is no time for bureaucracy». According to him «it is time to act, and to act quickly». He's right, the point now is how to go ahead, what to do. Special procedures can be agreed easier among governments rather than between institutions and private companies as airlines are. Brussels, we've had a problem. Apparently great haste made great waste.
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