THE STATE OF THE EUROPEAN UNION. Reforming Europe in a time of war

49 The shortfall of the European migratory and asylum policy Paloma Favieres It seems paradoxical that after several attempts to ad- dress a migratory and asylum policy announced back in 2015, seven years later this report is still analysing what happened to these proposals and the present and future situation brought about by lack of drive and progress in the most relevant matters. In the midst of negotiations, the invasion of Ukraine demonstrated that there is another way of addressing the matter, based on a framework of solidarity and shared responsibility, a million miles from the decisions taken when thousands of refugees arrived in 2015. The response from European Union Member States to increasing arrivals in 2015 once again demonstrated the need to set up a protective and effective Common European Asylum System. It also showed that we are painfully far from achieving this.The legislation and guar- antees have not been harmonised, which means that asy- lum seekers and refugees are treated differently by each State. Furthermore, we witnessed Member States’ lack of solidarity or shared responsibility in crisis situations. There have been several attempts to reform this common European asylum system (CEAS). None of the documents proposed in 2015 and 2016 by the European Commission to move this matter forward was approved during Jean-Claude Juncker’s term of office, which end- ed on 30 November 2019. Although the European Par- liament and Council reached a political agreement on several of these proposals, no agreement was reached on the reform of the Dublin Regulation and the Regu- lation on Procedures. On the other hand, in 2018, the Commission proposed a rework of the Return Directive that achieved partial agreement from the Council in 2019. In this context, the European Commission presented a New Pact on Migration and Asylum in September 2020. This New Pact reworked several former proposals by sug- gesting that agreements should be reached on negoti- ations that were already gaining ground and proposing new elements with a view to resolving urgent questions on migratory policy and European asylum that had arisen over the last few years. The proposals in this New Pact on Migration and Asylum have been debated in the European Council and Parliament since their publication, without reaching any type of substantial agreement, except in relation to the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA) and the Blue Card for highly qualified workers. In 2021, the European Parliament and Council did manage to agree on new rules for entry and residence of highly qualified workers from outside the EU by virtue of the review of the EU Blue Card Directive. The Blue Card agreement was a key objective for the Commission regarding the New Pact on Migration and Asylum.The new system brought in efficient rules to attract highly qualified workers to the EU, including more flexible admission conditions, improved rights and the chance to move and work more easily between EU Member States. The European Parliament and the EU Council should still formally confirm that political agreement by adopting the EU Blue Card Directive. Once the Directive has been for- mally adopted, the Member States will have two years to transpose the regulations to their national legislation.