asdf European Commission Chair: Aleksandar Vladicic Director: Rafail Zoulis European Commission PMUNC 2016 Contents Letter from the Chair…….………………………...……………………...…..3 Introduction……………………………….…….....……………..….…..……5 Topic A: The Migrant Crisis……………….…….....……………..….…..……6 Topic B: Terrorist Attacks in Europe……………….....………….…………...7 Topic C: Xenophobia and Brexit……...…………….....………….……….…..8 Positions……………………………...…………….....………….……...……9 2 European Commission PMUNC 2016 Letter from the Chair Dear Delegates, I’m very excited to welcome you to PMUNC 2016! My name is Aleksandar Vladicic and I will be your chair for the European Council crisis committee. I’m a sophomore at Princeton majoring in Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, and am especially interested in diplomacy, peacebuilding and integration, and the politics of development. This will be my fourth year of MUN and my second PMUNC. Last year at PMUNC, I served as a director for the Napoleonic Wars crisis committee. Alongside me this year is Rafail Zoulis who will be our crisis director for the European Council committee. I always enjoy running crisis, but this committee will definitely be a very special experience as we will be engaging in a discussion on a range of contemporary and challenging pressures the European Union faces in the twenty-first century. As a committee, we will try to provide solutions to both internal and external difficulties that shook Europe in the past couple of years. A sudden influx of refugees and migrants into the EU have exposed the ineffectiveness of existing regulations and exhibits European divisiveness in the response to an escalating crisis. Migration was gradually slowing down over the course of the past couple of months, but what remains to be further addressed are the nature and length of the granted asylums for the people who immigrated, the agreement on how to respond effectively to migrant crisis on the national level, and how to cooperatively show support to those who are forced to seek for a new home in the EU. 3 European Commission PMUNC 2016 During the migrant crisis, Europe witnessed rising power of populist parties, increased presence of Euroscepticism and growing xenophobia across the continent. Several countries expressed their concerns for the current state of affairs and advocated for stronger cooperation and solidarity. However, in July 2016, the UK Prime Minister David Cameron stepped down after the referendum when a majority of the UK citizens voted “leave”. Rising number of terrorist attacks and shootings all over the world was repeatedly mentioned in relation to the migrant crisis. As part of the migration policy, but on a general defense and security platforms as well, the EU is determined to improve its commitment to ensuring the security of its borders, and to creating strategies for providing immediate and effective response to the attacks. Current state of affairs might not seem very promising, but our committee of the European Council will come together to address most importantly: dealing with migrants and refugees, rising Euroscepticism, and the response to terrorist attacks in the EU! I am very much looking forward to meeting you all this fall! Aleksandar Vladicic 4 European Commission PMUNC 2016 Introduction Welcome to the European Council (EC) crisis committee! The European Council is an official institution of the European Union (EU) that comprises the heads of states of the 28 EU Member States (MS), the President of the European Commission, and the President of the European Council. While the legislative power in the EU is entrusted to the European Commission, the European Council defines the EU’s overall political direction and priorities. The European Council functions by adopting conclusions which “identify specific issues of concern and outline particular actions to take or goals to reach.” At the Council meeting in 2014, the European Council set five priority areas to work on over the next five years and those include: 1) jobs, growth and competitiveness, 2) empowering and protecting citizens, 3) energy and climate policies, 4) freedom, security and justice, 5) the EU as a strong global actor; and has determined specific goals to reach within each category.1 To better understand how the EC conclusions look like, you may read or skim through the Strategic agenda of the EU from 2014: http://register.consilium.europa.eu/doc/srv?l=EN&f=ST%2079%202014%20INIT#page =15 However, amid the turmoil of the recent terrorist attacks, a significant migrant crisis and the British vote to exit the Union, the European Council might have to reconsider its agenda and sort its priorities. Even though the European Council itself does not directly function as a crisis-addressing body, we will try to consolidate from one hand, the diversity in opinions, actions and experience each MS has on the numerous issues we will address and on the other, the excitement of the MUN crisis and debate. This committee is called on 1 http://www.consilium.europa.eu/en/european-council/role-setting-eu-political-agenda/ 5 European Commission PMUNC 2016 behalf of the current President of the EU Donald Tusk who will chair the meeting in Justus Lipsius building in Brussels on July 15, 2016, just after Theresa May was announced the next Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. We will be briefly covering the important topics for this committee. However, we encourage you to peruse current events in order to have the best idea for the daily goings-on of Europe. The focus of this committee is primarily on migrants and their many facets – the economic considerations, the security ones and even the political ones. We will also devote much of our attention to understanding the background of the leaders assembled, their domestic situations and hope to illustrate the positions and beliefs they would bring to the table for a variety of issues. In this way, we hope you gain a deeper understanding of motives of the actors, rather than attempting to explain the inexhaustible list of issues plaguing Europe today. 6 European Commission PMUNC 2016 The Migrant Crisis “According to Eurostat, EU MS received over 1.2 million first time asylum applications in 2015, a number more than double that of the previous year.2 Four states (Germany, Hungary, Sweden, and Austria) received around two-thirds of the EU's asylum applications in 2015, with Hungary, Sweden, and Austria being the top recipients of asylum applications per capita.3 The main countries of citizenship of asylum seekers, accounting for more than half of the total, were Syria, Afghanistan and Iraq.”4 An issue of concern from the very beginning of the crisis was where exactly within the borders of the EU the refugees will settle once they cross the border of one of the MS. Laws There are two agreements most relevant to the issue at hand. The first is the Schengen Agreement which abolishes the border checks internally between the 26 signatories.5 In the aftermath of recent terrorist attacks, nationalists raise it as an example of a failed European policy, pointing to how terrorists can easily move across borders to attack another country.6 In recent months, border controls have become more stringent in the Schengen Zone, and checks within the Schengen border have also become more common.7 The second relevant agreement is the Lisbon Treaty, which established a uniform policy for asylum in the European Union, as well as greatly strengthening the EU’s power to regulate 2 http://ec.europa.eu/eurostat/documents/2995521/7203832/3-04032016-AP-EN.pdf/790eba01-381c-4163- bcd2-a54959b99ed6 3 Ibid. 4 Ibid. 5 http://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-13194723 6 Ibid. 7 Ibid. 7 European Commission PMUNC 2016 immigration.8 With its expanded mandate, the EU’s decisions can no longer be vetoed by individual member states, and can decide the rights of migrants within the EU including the right to enter and exit.9 These changes have led to the Dublin III Regulation. Dublin III gives member states the ability to send a migrant refugee back to the first country the refugee entered.10 However, what this does is put an extra burden on border countries where migrants are most likely to enter. A Syrian refugee that first enters Europe through Hungary, is fingerprinted there, but makes it to Norway eventually can be sent back to Hungary by the Norwegian government. A plan to have a relocation ‘quota’ where a plan to share the 160,000 or so asylum seekers has thus far proved to see little progress; only 4,200 spots have volunteered. On 24 August 2015, according to article 17 of the Dublin III Regulations, Germany decided to suspend the Dublin procedure as regards Syrian refugees and to process their asylum applications directly itself.11 However, some countries were reluctant to welcome the refugees and started calling on the Agreement, comparing the numbers of refugees granted asylum to other MS, or building walls and fences in order to disable the refugees from crossing their national border. This council will address the pressing need to redefine the current policy by maximizing the benefits to the EU as a whole, without harming the basic human rights of the refugees or the national interests of specific MS. 8 http://www.europarl.europa.eu/atyourservice/en/displayFtu.html?ftuId=FTU_5.12.2.html 9 Ibid. 10 https://www.ft.com/content/d08dc262-bed1-11e5-9fdb-87b8d15baec2 11 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/germany-opens-its-gates-berlin-says-all-syrian-asylum- seekers-are-welcome-to-remain-as-britain-is-10470062.html 8 European Commission PMUNC 2016 Economic Consequences There is certainly a mixed narrative when it comes to refugees’ economic impact on Europe. Studies show that immigration only have a small impact on wages; unskilled workers are most vulnerable but there is only about a 2% depression in wages for menial positions for a 10% rise in share of migrant workers.12 Such numbers should suggest that there is not much to fret.