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7 October 2023, Thessaloniki Greece
We, the Ministers of Interior, Migration and Asylum of Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Malta, and Spain, on the occasion of the Sixth Ministerial Meeting in Thessaloniki, Greece on 7 October 2023, have concluded the following elements in relation to the internal and external dimensions of the European migration policy, as part of a holistic approach for an effective asylum and migration management:
1. We need to step up our common efforts in relation to the external dimension of migration management as an integral part of a holistic approach. Loss of life at sea and the abuse of migrants by smugglers can be averted through the prevention of irregular departures. We therefore call on the Commission to negotiate new strategic partnerships and mutually beneficial arrangements with key third countries of origin and transit based on mutual trust and a whole of route approach.
2. We call on the European Commission to guarantee the full implementation of existing partnerships and arrangements with third countries, with a view to stemming irregular departures, dismantling smuggling networks, resolutely fighting organized crime and increasing the rate of returns. Should said partnerships and arrangements need revitalization, or new ones to be concluded we need to act swiftly in this direction, in order to guarantee effective migration management.
3. We reaffirm our joint commitment to protect the external borders of the European Union, in compliance with applicable international law, EU principles and values, and the protection of fundamental rights. Furthermore, our commitment towards human rights and fundamental freedoms should not be abused of by smugglers or human traffickers. Search and rescue operations are conducted to provide assistance to any vessel or person in distress at sea, in accordance with international law, and should not be misused in such a way as to induce irregular migration or smuggling of migrants, thereby leading to the abuse of the Common European Asylum System.
4. We reaffirm the role of FRONTEX in assisting Member States at the external borders with their efforts towards effective border management, including through the use of pre-frontier aerial surveillance, and the fight against migrant smuggling, also in third countries, especially those of last departure. We thus call on the European Commission to allocate sufficient resources to FRONTEX and to finalize agreements with key third countries in order to achieve the full potential of the Agency’s mandate. We also underline the role of Europol against migrant smuggling and call to the swift launch of two operational task forces for the central Mediterranean and the eastern Mediterranean.
5. We condemn any attempt and stress anew the need to collectively counter instrumentalization tactics and hybrid threats by third countries or non-State actors and to make our external borders resilient, including the Green Line in the case of Cyprus which must be adequately addressed, despite the fact that the “Green Line” does not constitute a border.
6. We reiterate our firm position that the responsibilities shouldered by the MED5 countries have to be offset through adequate, tangible and efficient solidarity measures. The balance between responsibility and solidarity is a prerequisite for effective migration management within the Union.
7. We stress the need to support our neighbors in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic in their efforts to address irregular migratory flows, including by way of provision of equipment, training, capacity building and other forms of cooperation. We call upon the European Commission to make available all funding necessary to manage migration, including as part of the MFF review.
8. We are committed to addressing the root causes of migration. In this light, we support the promotion of legal pathways in order to reduce irregular migration and strengthen orderly and safe migration, to the benefit of all parties involved, including our MENA and Atlantic neighbour states and Turkey, in particular, as well as Sub-Saharan countries.
9. We call for innovative and effective solutions to limit primary movements and remove incentives for people to come irregularly to the Union.
10. We emphasize the importance of returns as a key pillar of the Union’s migration policy, including assisted voluntary returns. We reiterate the need to step up our efforts on returning third country nationals who have no legal right to remain in the Union. We call upon the Commission to take reinforced action to ensure that third countries comply with their legal or agreed readmission and return commitments.
11. We call for the swift conclusions of the negotiations on the Pact on Migration and Asylum. The end result should be an efficient and robust system that works in practice and is able to withstand challenging situations.
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