Yesterday, the final Home Affairs meeting of Germany’s EU-Council Presidency passed a “progress report”, which hardly deserves its name. Enough to call the presidency a failure? Not quite. Here’s a quick take on @EU2020DE's performance on #asylum reform https://euobserver.com/migration/150386

Remember how we started: Earlier this year, Seehofer announced he wanted to deliver a "political agreement" on reforming the #CEAS. This was pretty ambitious to start with, if not unrealistic. In any case, it was a missed opportunity to manage expectations

The initial ideas was to build on the Commission proposal for a #NewPact on #Asylum & #Migration. Yet, its annoucnemnet was delayed, officially due to #COVID19 and the #MFF struggle. But its fair to guess that stalled opposition among member states also played a vital part.

So external factors had the German Presidency off to a bad start. And while the fire in #Moria reiterated the urgency for action, it also reminded everyone of just how reluctant member states are to make binding pledges for #relocation.

With only 2,5 months left for the presidency after the #NewPact was announced, a political agreement was out of reach while (self-made) expectations remained high. Hence, all we're left with is a report that speaks of progress when member states really only agreed to disagree

But the presidency can’t be the only one to blame here. The #NewPact’s first litmus test was hardly a success either: neither a border procedure nor the envisioned return sponsorships helped finding middle ground among member states.

To conclude: the presidency’s self-made expectations were too ambitious. Perhaps, a more modest approach could have been helpful given the sensibility & history of the topic. External factors also played a role, hence leaving the most contested issues for the coming presidencies