EU COUNCIL

 

Belgian Presidency's priorities

In the area of Migration and Asylum Policy, the Belgian State Secretary for Migration and Asylum Policy Melchior Wathelet highlighted three areas: the continuation of the development of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS), the development of a common policy on legal migration and the fight against trafficking in human beings and illegal migration.

 

As regards the CEAS, the Presidency hopes to make progress on four of the six proposals currently in the Council: the Eurodac regulation, the long-term residence directive, the qualification directive and the Dublin regulation. The two other proposals - on asylum procedures and the reception directives - "haven't gone so far as the others (...) and we feel that we are not going to finalise these two texts" during the Belgian Presidency, he added.

 

On social cohesion, priorities are the fight against poverty and in particular the minimum income, child poverty and homelessness. The Belgian presidency organises a conference, which will be held on 2 and 3 September 2010, to raise awareness of Member States about the problems facing the children living in poverty and to provide the bricks to achieve a real European Recommendation on child poverty.

 

Sources:

- Belgian Presidency, 'Programme in the field of Immigration and Asylum'

- European Parliament, 'Belgian ministers outline Council Presidency priorities'

- ECRE Weekly Bulletin 16 July 2010