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The Commission of the European Union has decided to register a new European Citizens’ Initiative called ‘Ensuring a dignified reception of migrants in Europe’.
This initiative calls on the EU Commission to create a new system for the voluntary distribution of asylum seekers throughout the member states of the EU and to ensure effective solidary between all the states, SchengenVisaInfo.com reports.
The organisers of the initiative have also required the EU to present binding reception standards that would guarantee dignified living conditions for all asylum seekers across the bloc in terms of housing, food, health, education, and work.
They said that the EU countries must guarantee the rights of all children by ensuring schooling and education, without the condition of residence in one of the member states.
Moreover, the organisers required that the EU facilitates access to employment for all asylum seekers.
“Applicants, regardless of the expected outcome of their application, should be allowed to work as soon as possible, within 6 months, even if their application is in process,” the organisers of the initiative said.
They further recommended that the EU countries develop and monitor emergency reception plans with local and regional actors so that asylum seekers do not face obstacles once they are in the bloc.
Commenting on the matter, the Commission said that the decision to register this particular initiative is of a legal nature and, at the same time, stressed that if this initiative gets the necessary support, the decision does not predetermine the political and legal conclusions of the Commission.
“The decision to register is of a legal nature. It does not prejudge the legal and political conclusions of the Commission on this initiative or the action it will take, if any, in case the initiative obtains the necessary support,” the statement of the Commission reads.
Additionally, the Commission said that the initiative is legally permissible as it fulfils the formal conditions and highlighted that the content of the initiative does not reflect the views of the Commission. Instead, it expressed the view of the organisers.
Following the registration of the ‘Ensuring a dignified reception of migrants in Europe’ initiative, the organisers will have six months to open the signature collection.
If the initiative received one million statements of support from at least seven EU countries within one year, the Commission will have to react and decide whether to take the request forward or not.
The European Citizens’ Initiative was officially launched in April 2021 and was introduced as an agenda-setting tool in the hand of citizens. Once an initiative is formally registered, it allows one million citizens to invite the Commission to propose acts in areas needed and where it has the power to act.
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