Dealing with immigration must have various nuances and not be “black and white”, emphasized the outgoing president of European Councilo Charles Michelduring an interview he gave to the European news agencies of the European Newsroom.

A month before the end of his five-year term as president of the European Council, Charles Michel argues that we should not be afraid to look at more effective ways of managing immigration. It underlines the importance of putting a European framework on returns and is in favor of greater coordination at the level EEon the concept of a safe third country. From the discussions at the most recent European Council, he said he found that there was a growing consensus for coordination in terms of “safe countries”, despite the fact that this was a decision left to national governments.

With his ten years of experience in the European Councils (incl. he was prime minister of Belgium for five years), Charles Michel describes the long journey of immigration discussions, from 2016 – when there was a complete lack of trust between the leaders – until today. that trust has been restored with the new Pact on Asylum and Migration, which should be fully implemented by 2026.

Regarding the external dimension of immigration, he recalls that a few years ago the idea of ​​legal routes was a difficult topic of discussion, but today it is a “common opinion” that alongside the fight against illegal immigration, new possibilities for legal routes must be opened, so wider cooperation with third countries.

On the return of non-asylum migrants, Charles Michel admits that the rate is very low, which is being exploited by traffickers. “Returns policy is a major challenge,” he emphasizes, which is why the last European Council tasked the Commission with presenting “innovative ideas.”

For reception centers in third countries, he reminds that it is not a “new idea”. In principle, he argues that we should not be afraid to examine in more detail, new operational ways and more efficient but always in accordance with international law. Nothing is “black and white”, he appreciates and believes that all parameters should be taken into account. However, he refrained from commenting on the Italy-Albania agreement, saying that the issue is being discussed internally in Italy and he does not want to interfere.

On the question of EU enlargement, the outgoing president of the European Council insists that today he is more convinced than ever that the EU should be ready in 2030.

The EU and the candidate countries “should speed up” their preparations, he says. “We must not leave the countries of the Western Balkans in a kind of gray zone”, when others are playing games to destabilize them, emphasizes S. Michel, while he considers that there are other kinds of challenges regarding Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova . In particular for Ukraine, a country with a population of more than 40 million inhabitants and a huge agricultural sector, it is “a more complex case”, he admits and emphasizes that the priority is its reconstruction by the EU together with its partners and that in its faster reconstruction its entry into the EU single market could potentially help.

On the debate over the abolition of unanimity in decision-making in the EU, the outgoing president of the European Council believes that “smart ways” should be found to tackle the abuse of the right of veto and preserve unity.

He points out that on many issues a qualified majority applies and unanimity is limited to defense and security issues, but warns that removing unanimity risks abandoning efforts to build a “united position”.

Asked if he fears a possible second term for Donald Trump after the US presidential election, Charles Michel says that there are certainly differences between the two candidates, Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, but the basic orientation will not be very different in terms of the relationship between the US -EE. In his view, the EU should not depend on who the next US president will be and therefore should strengthen its autonomy, sovereignty, influence and resilience.

As Charles Michel underlines, the main priorities to make the European Union stronger and more dominant in the future are more development and innovation and more investment to create greater European defense capabilities. “The EU needs to develop its own defense industry,” he insists, noting that about 80% of the military equipment the EU supplies to Ukraine comes from the US.