'Europe cannot allow itself to fail twice' on migration, EU Commission VP Schinas says
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Our guest is former Greek MEP and EU Commission spokesperson Margaritis Schinas, who is now the EU Commission Vice-President for Promoting the European Way of Life. Speaking to FRANCE 24's Catherine Nicholson, he discussed the planned new EU migration pact ahead of an upcoming EU summit, plus the situation of child migrants in Greece and a possible relaunch of EU Mediterranean search and rescue operations. Schinas also shared his thoughts on EU racial diversity and representation in the bloc's institutions following recent worldwide protests against racism.
Five years on from the unprecedented influx of asylum seekers into the EU, the man in charge of co-ordinating migration policy for the bloc says it's "unthinkable" not to have a comprehensive framework for EU migration policy.
A new EU migration pact had been due to be presented in March, but has been delayed by the coronavirus pandemic.
Since 2015, three member states have been found to have broken EU law by refusing to relocate asylum candidates: Hungary, Poland and the Czech Republic. But EU Commission Vice-President Margaritis Schinas says he's confident that all 27 member states "will make an effort, so we can craft this compromise that Europe needs so badly".
We also discuss the lack of ethnic diversity at EU institutions: no person of colour has ever been a European Commissioner, and the number of MEPs from ethnic minorities is lower than 5 percent.
Produced by Isabelle Romero, Mathilde Bénézet, and Perrine Desplats
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