The Belgian and Dutch position was clearly expressed in a letter addressed to Magnus Brunner, Commissioner for Migration. These countries call for solidarity in the EU not to be treated as an automatic obligation, but as a reward for full compliance with the rules.
The rest of the article below the video:
In their opinion, many people after arriving in countries such as Italy or Greece move further north, which leads to an overload of the asylum systems in Belgium and the Netherlands.
Dublin rules – a flashpoint in EU migration policy
The Dublin system, which requires the first country receiving migrants to consider their asylum applications, has been controversial for years. EU border countries such as Greece and Italy point to the disproportion in the administrative and financial burden resulting from this rule. Critics say the current system leaves these countries with a disproportionate number of asylum applications.
The new migration pact, introduced in stages, aims to distribute responsibilities more fairly between member states. It assumes mechanisms for operational and financial support and relocation of migrants. The European Commission has also been given the power to assess whether countries comply with the Dublin rules before they are subject to solidarity measures. Belgium and the Netherlands demand that these regulations be strictly enforced.
Read also: Only one in five people returns to the country. The EU wants change
Anneleen Van Bossuyt, Belgium's Minister for Migration, and her Dutch counterpart David van Weel stressed in a letter to the Commission that “Solidarity must go hand in hand with responsibility.” Their position highlights tensions between countries in the north, which seek strict enforcement of the law, and countries in the south, which struggle with daily influxes of migrants..
Inequalities in migration burdens
Countries such as Italy and Greece, which are at the forefront of the influx of migrants across the Mediterranean, have been drawing attention to inequalities in burdens for years. The obligation to register every person means that these countries bear the highest costs. Meanwhile, northern countries, to which migrants often go later, are facing secondary flows. Belgium and the Netherlands estimate that as much as 60 percent asylum applications they process come from people who originally arrived in other countries.
Read also: Greece is closing. Illegal migrants will be 'arrested and detained'
The European Commission was supposed to publish a report on the migration burden in Member States and the resulting solidarity obligations in October, but the publication was delayed. Poland hopes that the document will take into account both the mass influx of refugees from Ukraine and the situation on the border with Belarus, where migration is used as a political tool.
