EU considers reforming border, migration policies

LILLE, France — European Union interior ministers on Thursday debated ways to beef up the 27-nation bloc’s borders, including by erecting walls or fences, and examine yet again how to kick-start desperately needed reforms to the EU’s malfunctioning asylum system.

The EU has been mired in a deep political crisis since well over 1 million people, many of them refugees fleeing war in Syria, began entering in 2015. Greece was overwhelmed by migrants landing on its islands on rafts and dinghies from Turkey. Other countries were slow or reluctant to help.

The old asylum system, based on the notion that the country where migrants first arrive must deal with them, collapsed. New reform proposals have failed to overcome the fundamental problem — who should take responsibility and what kind of help other countries should provide.

France, which currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency, is trying to reenergize the sweeping reform plan by tackling parts of it at a time. President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday met with the interior ministers in a push to “move the issue forward.” Macron acknowledged member states have different views depending on their geographic situation and he warned against divisions.

He proposed the creation of a new body, the Schengen Council, that would gather members of the free-passport area to make decisions on migration policies, including preventing difficulties and bringing a quick response in case of crisis.

European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas said Thursday “there can be no migration policy at the European level without a significant dimension of border management.”

In a document laying out national positions on the proposals, a minority of countries favor the use of walls or fences to stop people entering, and some argue that EU money should be used to pay for the barriers.

The European Commission, which holds the EU’s purse strings, and is responsible for proposing joint legislation, has long opposed the use of European money to fund walls, which several officials have said are not in line with the bloc’s values.