Germany’s ruling Social Democrats and the Greens are now placing their hopes on upcoming negotiations with the European Parliament to soften the position on the EU Migration Deal reached by EU member states last week, as Germany’s push was not enough to sway them.
Last Thursday, EU interior ministers agreed on a reform proposal for the Common European Asylum Process that drew criticism from Germany’s centre-left coalition, whose major negotiation target included exempting families with children from controversial asylum claims processes.
”We [continue to] strongly support an exemption for families with children,” Lars Klingbeil, co-chair of the Social Democrats (SPD), reaffirmed on Monday at a press conference.
“The European Parliament will be very important for that,” he said, referring to upcoming interinstitutional trilogue negotiations that could lead to new amendments.
“In the Council, Germany had no majority for its demand to exempt families with children from fast-track processes [at the European border], but it remains a priority for Social Democrats that we’ll continue to push for during our negotiations with the Council,” Katarina Barley, vice-president of the European Parliament and one of the SPD’s leading EU delegates told EURACTIV, thus confirming her party’s continued push.
“I’m sure that our [MEPs] will push for improvements during the negotiations in the trilogue as well as in the European Parliament, such as exemptions for [families with children],” the Green Party’s Co-Chair, Ricarda Lang, told ARD on Sunday despite her party being divided on the deal, with the left-wing member base opposing the deal’s more restrictive parts.
Still, Barley remains confident about Parliament likely having an effect in amending the deal.
Besides Parliament’s role as an “equitable legislator” that cannot go unnoticed, “high” pressure will be exerted on the Council, she added.
(Nick Alipour | EURACTIV.de)
Read more with EURACTIV
French government survives no-confidence vote, againThe no-confidence motion tabled by the left against the French government failed to pass on Monday (12 June), although criticism of the separation of powers and rumours of a possible reshuffle persist.
Source: euractiv.com
