Migration burden sharing negotiations underway: ‘less talk, more action’

"It makes no sense to have some Member States turning a blind eye to the reality of migration and brush aside any kind of solution leaving the worst hit countries fending for themselves," Labour MEP Miriam Dalli said.

Dalli was delivering a statement during the first exchange of views on the European Union's Permanent Relocation Mechanism in the presence of the European Commission and the European Council.

As the Socialists and Democrats negotiator on the first phase of the Dublin Regulation revamp Dalli emphasised that the way that Dublin has been formulated, has resulted to be detrimental to the founding principles of the European Union.

"The refugee crisis we have been faced with has shown that Dublin simply does not work. Citizens in southern Member States in particular have felt that their countries have been left alone and had to deal with the crisis alone," she said.

Dalli stated that it is imperative that solidarity is put into practice and not simply spoken about. "This is what I want to work for. This legislative dossier gives us the opportunity to push into practice the principle of Solidarity as a principle truly enshrined in legislation that can be automatically triggered when the need arises and not only as a principle that we refer to in patchwork fashion when there is a crisis."

Dalli emphasised on the need to move away from vague commitments to more specific details in the legislation.

Meanwhile, when addressing the European Parliament on behalf of S&D, on the need for a complaints' mechanism within FRONTEX, Dalli spoke on the need to strike the proper balance between security issues and fundamental human rights.

"Human rights are inalienable and non-negotiable and security needs to be on top of the agenda as well. We need to strike the right balance. We need to recognise that a laissez-faire attitude does not work. Equally a military-state mentality does not work either," she said.

"This report is a solid achievement for the S&D Group, as the Parliament adopted the S&D calls for stronger fundamental rights safeguards. "We managed to ensure a complaints' mechanism that guarantees that allegations concerning human rights' breaches are investigated in a transparent and accountable manner while also including safeguards that offer the opportunity to whoever wants to present a justified complaint to do so without any fear of repercussions."

Dalli said that now it is up to the Commission to ensure that they include such a mechanism in their upcoming Border Guards Package.