LISBON: Portugal started consultations on Tuesday with other European Union countries to find common ground for a new policy on migration, which has caused humanitarian crises and deep political divisions in the bloc over how to respond.

Portugal, which holds the EU’s rotating presidency for the first half of this year, is working on a concept of flexible, mandatory solidarity between countries, according to a statement from the office of Portuguese Home Affairs Minister Eduardo Cabrita.

Defining what that concept entails is Portugal’s goal for a meeting of EU justice and home affairs ministers on Jan 28, the statement said.

But migration from outside the EU requires the blocs members to stand together, and solidarity cannot be voluntary, the statement said.

The main goal must be to avoid having people who are searching for a better life in Europe remain for long periods of time in temporary accommodation ... without any clarification about their future, it said.

Cabrita spoke on Tuesday to Greece’s minister for migration and asylum. He plans to speak to officials in other southern European countries which have taken in large numbers of migrants, as well as to authorities in central and eastern European countries where migrants have often been made to feel unwelcome.

Finding consensus for a common EU policy on migration has eluded the bloc for years.

Published in Dawn, January 6th, 2021