This Friday in Granada, EU leaders resume the discussion on migration and the future of enlargement

GRANADA, 5 Oct. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The heads of State and Government of the European Union will begin this Friday at an informal summit in Granada the reflection on the dynamics they want for the bloc in the coming years, from the changes necessary to prepare for the opening of new partners from 2030 to how to strengthen its defense capacity against new risks; a debate, however, weighed down by the eternal differences on immigration matters that complicate the drafting of a joint declaration.

The agreement against the clock that allowed the Twenty-Seven to announce in the middle of the week that they managed to unblock the negotiations of the Migration and Asylum Pact, by defining their red lines on the crisis management mechanism, has partly reduced the pressure on the informal summit in Granada because The fight between Italy and Germany at that point threatened to strain the event. The Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, and the German Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, in fact, will meet bilaterally this Friday.

Thus, the agenda foresees a discussion on the external dimension of migration that, in principle, brings together a broad consensus regarding the need to strengthen border control and promote cooperation with countries of origin and transit so that they cut off irregular departures.

The unanimity necessary to adopt any declaration at the level of leaders and the permanent rejection of migration issues by Hungary and Poland, which demand that decisions on this matter be decided by consensus and not by the qualified majority that now allows blockades to be overcome by small groups of partners, complicate, according to different sources, the negotiations on the final declaration.

The immigration discussion already crept into the margins of the summit of the European Political Community (EPC) the day before, where the British Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak, and Meloni, have managed to convene a conclave in a reduced format and focused on immigration control at the same time. that the leaders of France, Emmanuel Macron, have also attended; Netherlands, Mark Rutte, and Albania, Edi Rama, as well as the head of the community Executive, Ursula von der Leyen.

In any case, migration will once again be on the agenda of the formal summit of the 27 at the end of the month in Brussels, so a substantive debate is not expected this Friday, the day on which the heads of State and Government will address for the first time at the highest political level, doubts about how the European Union should prepare internally before opening the door to new accessions.

The objective is for Granada to give rise to the beginning of a reflection whose starting point is the leaders' agreement that what will make the European Union "stronger and more prosperous" is the continuation of a "peace project" but leaving Of course, for this the bloc "needs reforms", according to European sources.

European governments differ regarding the pace and whether the debate on internal changes in issues such as decision-making or budgetary aspects should be resolved before deciding on the entry of more countries into the community club or steps should be taken for the accession of candidates without wait.