EU leaders on Friday failed to agree on the text of the conclusions on migration because of objections by Hungary and Poland, so the text was published as a statement by European Council President Charles Michel. Pročitaj više

“Efforts to reach an agreement on the conclusions on migration failed because Poland and Hungary did not agree with the text. That’s why it will be presented to the public in the form of conclusions by the European Council President,” Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said after the two-day summit in Brussels.

“Hungary and Poland do not want the migration issue to be decided by a qualified majority but by consensus, which is not provided for under EU rules,” he added.

At their meeting in Luxembourg on 8 June, EU home affairs ministers agreed a common position on the Asylum and Migration Management Regulation and the Asylum Procedures Regulation, two key elements of the Migration and Asylum Pact on which the member states had been negotiating unsuccessfully for years. The document was voted in by a qualified majority, with Hungary and Poland voting against.

Poland and Hungary wanted to change this in the conclusions of the European Council, the EU’s highest political body, and ensure that the matter was decided by consensus, which would call into question the common position adopted.

Based on the common position, the next rotating presidencies of the EU (Spanish and Belgian) will seek to reach an agreement with the European Parliament on the final text of these laws before European elections next spring.

Hungary and Poland are opposed to the common position adopted by a qualified majority of home affairs ministers under which the principle of mandatory solidarity would be introduced.

The common position provides for a stricter asylum procedure on the Union’s external borders for migrants not entitled to international protection and their readmission to countries of origin or transit. Each member state would have to take in a certain number of migrants annually or pay a contribution into a common fund for each migrant refused.

If these laws are adopted, Hungary and Poland will have to implement them.