ASYLUM & ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION
PLM: You are known to be a very observant person, one capable of forging relationships and building consensus. How do you see your role as Executive Director here, and how do you fit into this role – when you are caught between the fire and the fireman? RV: Well, support the fireman to put out the fire. You correctly said that I am someone of consensus. I think that consensus is the central building block in society and certainly in the EU context. I come from a country where, for ages, consensus has been the central element in society. And I think that it is the glue for society. Being Head of an agency like this makes that an interesting challenge. I have a management board where all twenty eight member states, the Commission and even United Nations High Commission for Refugees are represented. So, a very diverse group. Besides that, I have direct relations with the European Commission, and the Council of Ministers; I have to be accountable to the European Parliament; manage daily relations with ministers; national services; and there is also very high attention from civil society, from NGOs and other stakeholders that follow our work very closely. Even in Malta, there is an organisation that monitors EASO permanently. There is a wide range of stakeholders and key actors to keep in line. That’s a full day and full week’s work, but it’s challenging and fulfilling work. It’s dynamic, and there is never a dull moment.
“I think that consensus is the central building block in society” PLM: What is the EASO’s contribution to the current debate on the possible establishment of an intra-EU relocation scheme, and on the possible design of an EU system for the joint processing of asylum claims? And what may be the right conditions under which this can become a reality, especially in Malta? RV: Relocation is, especially in Malta, a high topical subject. Malta has been successful in putting it on the European agenda. That in itself is already worth noting. There have been two phases of the European pilot project on relocation (EUREMA 1 and EUREMA 2). Besides that, there have been a fair number of bilateral relocation activities from Malta to different European countries. That was the situation when I started as an agency. What we have been doing is first to make a real analysis, facts and figures, of those three situations. Because, before you take next steps, you better take a moment to think and to see what lessons you can learn. And there are two main lessons, two different directions to learn. One is that relocation is workable. That is 16
interesting to note, because before EUREMA there was a lot of debate, on whether it works, or that it is a pull factor, or that it is the solution for everything. It is not. It is just a tool. It might be, in situations, a very important tool, but it is certainly not the only tool in the toolbox. But it can work. We also found there are substantial improvements possible if you want to have more relocation initiatives at EU level. That was the state of play. Then it was the term for the politicians to discuss. They did not agree on a relocation scheme right away. But just recently, on an initiative of the Commission in Brussels, we had what you call a
Relocation Forum, where I presented the results of relocation practises, and tried to frame relocation more precisely. Relocation is not primarily about asylum seekers, it is about people who have been given international protection by a member state and who, for all sorts of reasons, should be transferred to other parts of Europe. It’s good to keep that in mind, for the public in general, these two things are mixed. But it’s technically very important to distinguish between them. PLM: EASO is actively participating in the full evaluation of the Pilot Project for intraEU Relocation from Malta (EUREMA). What Pg 18 >