Conclusions – 18 and 19 February 2016
- implementation and operational follow-up to the Valletta Summit, in particular the agreed list of 16 priority actions, should continue and be stepped up;
- humanitarian assistance should continue to be provided to Syrian refugees and to the countries neighbouring Syria. This is an urgent global responsibility. In this context, the European Council welcomes the outcome of the Conference on supporting Syria and the Region in London on 4 February and calls on the Commission, Member States and all other contributing countries to rapidly implement their commitments;
- the continued and sustained irregular migrant flows along the Western Balkans route remain a grave concern that requires further concerted action and an end to the wave-through approach and to uncoordinated measures along the route, taking into account humanitarian consequences for Member States affected. It is also important to remain vigilant about potential developments regarding other routes so as to be able to take rapid and concerted action;
- the Council adopted a Recommendation on 12 February 2016. It is important to restore, in a concerted manner, the normal functioning of the Schengen area, with full support for Member States which face difficult circumstances. We need to get back to a situation where all Members of the Schengen area apply fully the Schengen Borders Code and refuse entry at external borders to third-country nationals who do not satisfy the entry conditions or who have not made an asylum application despite having had the opportunity to do so, while taking into account the specificities of maritime borders, including by implementing the EU-Turkey agenda;
- with the help of the EU, the setting up and functioning of hotspots is gradually improving as regards identification, registration, fingerprinting and security checks on persons and travel documents; however, much remains to be done, in particular to make hotspots fully functional, to ensure the full 100% identification and registration of all entries (including systematic security checks against European databases, in particular the Schengen Information System, as required under EU law), to fully implement the relocation process, to stem secondary flows of irregular migrants and asylum-seekers and to provide the significant reception facilities needed to accommodate migrants under humane conditions while their situation is being clarified. Asylum seekers do not have the right to choose the Member State in which they seek asylum;
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