Petras AUŠTREVIČIUS (Renew, LT) Committee on Foreign Affairs (AFET), and Juan Fernando LÓPEZ AGUILAR (S&D, ES), Chair of the Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs (LIBE), give a press briefing on thec crisis in Afghanistan; migration, human rights and asylum policies, in the European Parliament in Strasbourg. Extracts from the press briefing ahead the State of the European Union Debate 2021.

Committee on Foreign Affairs

Strasbourg

EU - Afghanistan (T)

Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

migration and refugees in Europe (T)

press conference

LÓPEZ AGUILAR, Juan Fernando (S&D, ES)

asylum procedures in the EU (T)

AUŠTREVIČIUS, Petras (Renew, LT)

new pact on asylum and migration (T)

state of the European Union 2021 (T)

The crisis in Afghanistan; migration, human rights and asylum policies: extracts from the press briefing ahead the State of the European Union Debate

SOUNDBITE (English), Petras AU&#352;TREVI&#268;IUS (Renew, LT), In fact, rapid and unexpected takeover of Afghanistan by Taliban is really a very unfortunate development for this country. And at the same time, we have to recognise a failure, a big failure for and of international community. To follow the situation in this country we see in the past month. A situation developing from security crisis to social economic crisis, a humanitarian crisis and which might lead and most probably will to migration crisis. 

SOUNDBITE (English), Petras AU&Scaron;TREVIČIUS (Renew, LT), And in fact, we have to draw lessons from. For European Union's future development policy and international foreign affairs policy. What comes to a situation in Afghanistan? And I probably would call for a kind of new realism. Even for new instruments, for state building and effective conditionalities and monitoring to be in place in order to face with a situation in many countries, by the way, the European Union is involved with a similar or same missions.

SOUNDBITE (English), Petras AU&Scaron;TREVIČIUS (Renew, LT), I don't see any political readiness, I mean, for EU side, frankly speaking, to start any diplomatic relations with the Taliban. Many of them, I speak about the Taliban government, are on the wanted persons list, and we can't overstep this. It's still a terrorist organisation with many crimes committed before.

SOUNDBITE (English), Juan Fernando L&#211;PEZ AGUILAR (S&amp;D, ES), We have seen clear that the Afghan crisis has brought again attention to the need of putting in place humanitarian corridors for displaced people fleeing from places, from regions, from countries in which they are no longer secure.

SOUNDBITE (English), Juan Fernando L&Oacute;PEZ AGUILAR (S&amp;D, ES), We have committed ourselves from the European Parliament to deliver, we were only expecting the council to make up its mind as to the need of EU resettlement system with the cooperation of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. We might see more and more people being transferred from Afghanistan to the European Union to its member states through these humanitarian corridors possibly with humanitarian visas and with the activation of this long expected EU resettlement framework. 

SOUNDBITE (English), Juan Fernando L&Oacute;PEZ AGUILAR (S&amp;D, ES), We object strongly the terms and content of the latest conclusions of the latest justice and home affairs. Council of Ministers under Slovenian presidency, which came up with the idea that the Afghan situation poses an immediate threat to the external borders of the European Union.

SOUNDBITE (English), Juan Fernando L&Oacute;PEZ AGUILAR (S&amp;D, ES), It's completely false that we have an immediate migration or an asylum threat because of the Afghan crisis. More than that, it's because asylum seekers and migrants are no threat at all in the first place. They are no threat at all. They are posing a humanitarian challenge for the European Union for good reason, because we were involved in the country, we were involved in the region. So we need to be at the height of the stature, of the values of our laws and of our expected humanitarian response to those who have been vocal in opposing the Taliban regime and advocating for rights and freedoms in Afghanistan.