Well now the European Commission is just taunting David Cameron and the British people. Refugees streaming into Europe from the Middle East and North Africa will be able to claim asylum in the UK rather than the first European country they arrive in, if the EU scraps regulation 604/2013.
It’s more commonly known as the the “Dublin” regulation, and it may be on its way out the door according to the Financial Times. What does it mean in practical terms?
Refugees won’t just be a problem for Hungary, Germany, and the EU border states in southern Europe. They’ll be a problem for the northern States where jobs are plentiful and welfare benefits are on offer (at least for now). Refugees can refuse to register in their country of entry into the EU and those countries (Greece and Italy) can decline to register the refugees in order to move them along to the country the refugees want to end up in.
Sharing the burden
The EU commission plans to describe the change more fully in March. But it’s not asking for anyone’s permission to make the change. It plans to do it. And it plans to do it in order to “share the burden” of the refugee problem. The “problem” is that the EU can’t protect its border and the Germans (via Angela Merkel) ditched EU regulations when they invited everyone to come to Berlin, thus creating the refugee crisis.
Perhaps the prime minister can bring this up with the EU next month in Brussels. And perhaps it won’t matter. The EU will do what it wants whether it’s in British interests or not. That’s not to say that the refugee crisis doesn’t need a solution. But the solution is better national border control, not shifting the burden of bad policy from the south to the north.
Category: The End of Europe