Council Decision (EU) 2015/1523 of 14 September 2015 establishing provisional measures in the area of international protection for the benefit of Italy and of Greece

Ce que fait l'acte

to establish provisional measures in the area of international protection for the benefit of Italy and Greece in order to enable them to deal in an effective manner with the current significant inflow of third country nationals in their territories, putting their asylum systems under strain. ROLE OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT: the Council adopts the act after consulting the European Parliament but without being obliged to follow its opinion BACKGROUND: in accordance with Article 78(3) of the Treaty , in the event of one or more Member States being confronted by an emergency situation characterised by a sudden inflow of nationals of third countries , the Council, on a proposal from the Commission, may adopt provisional measures to the benefit of the Member State(s) concerned. In accordance with Article 80 of the Treaty, the policies of the Union in the area of border checks, asylum and immigration and their implementation should be governed by the principles of solidarity and fair sharing of responsibility between Member States. The Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs adopted the report by Ska KELLER (Greens/EFA, DE) on the proposal for a Council decision establishing provisional measures in the area of international protection for the benefit of Italy and Greece. The committee approved the Commission proposal subject to the following amendments: Binding measures : this Decision establishes binding provisional emergency measures in the area of international protection for the benefit of Italy and Greece. Taking account of applicants’ preferences and of Member States : based on the lessons learned from the pilot project on relocation from Malta (EUREMA), Members stated that expectations and preferences should be taken into account to the extent possible. Member States should support their preferences by aspects such as: family ties, social ties such as ties to ethnic and cultural communities, cultural ties to the preferred Member State such as language skills, former stay in a Member State or former study or work relations with companies or organisations of that Member State. Distribution key : in order to relieve the significant asylum pressure from Italy and Greece, but also to act as an important test case with a view to the upcoming legislative proposal on a permanent emergency relocation scheme, an initial total of 40 000 applicants shall be relocated from Italy and Greece. A further increase shall be considered, if necessary, to adapt to rapidly changing refugee flows . By six months after the entry into force of this Decision, the Commission shall evaluate the respective share of persons to be relocated from Italy and Greece with a view to adapting it to changing refugee flows, on basis of the latest available Frontex data. Relocation procedure : for the implementation of all aspects of the relocation procedure, Members considered that rather than sending liaison officers for identifying applicants for relocation by individual Member States, Member States should provide national experts to European Asylum Support Office to assist Italy and Greece in the relocation measures in a coordinated manner. Particular…