Avramopoulos: Dublin Accord on immigration not working

Two new proposals to make it more effective tabled by European Commission

The European Commission tabled two proposals for the revision of the ‘Dublin Accord’ on immigration, Wednesday in Brussels. Immigration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos and the body’s vice President Frans Timmermans proposed two new ideas for a fairer distribution of refugees across Europe in the wake of the refugee crisis and the inability to effectively implement the provisions of the current Dublin rules. According to the two new proposals the Dublin Accord would be reinforced by adding provisions to alleviate the burden of immigration flows on countries struggling to cope; and secondly by an automated EU mechanism to determine a quota on member-states that would allow refugees to automatically be relocated to EU countries. Timmerman said the goal was to harmonise the asylum procedures throughout EU member-states, a revision of the Dublin accord on immigration and the creation of ‘intelligent borders’ across the European borderlines. He stressed the need for the creation of a ‘safe immigration passage’, adding that the current immigration crisis was one the largest challenges the EU was facing. On his part, Avramopoulos underlined that the implementation of the Dublin accord was practically ineffective under the current circumstances. Responding to a correspondent from ‘Proto Thema’ on the fact that Greece was obliged to implement the provisions emanating from the Accord Avramopoulos said: ‘The situation has changed since Dublin I, when the conditions were different’. He added, however, that until the revisions were put in effect Greece would have to comply with the first Accord. The Commissioner recognised that Greece had managed to fulfill its obligations with refugee mechanisms and structures operating.