• 8 months ago
In this edition of State of the Union, we focus on the climate ruling against Switzerland, fairness in the European election campaign and the new EU Migration and Asylum Pact
Transcript
00:00 Hello and welcome to State of the Union, I'm Stephan Grobe in Brussels.
00:10 Switzerland is a country we rarely talk about on this show.
00:14 The Confederacy is not a member of the EU, but it ranks highest in the politically stable,
00:19 well-governed and high ethical standards metrics, and it appears among the top five nations
00:25 under the sustainable future metric.
00:28 The last reputation though took a heavy blow this week.
00:31 The European Court of Human Rights ruled that Swiss authorities are responsible for not
00:36 implementing efficient climate policies and thus violating the right to life of its people.
00:42 The judgment doesn't include any sanctions, but sets an important precedent that will
00:46 likely reverberate across future lawsuits.
00:49 The reaction of the Swiss government was rather, well, meek.
01:09 The ruling of the court is binding, meaning Switzerland must act.
01:14 If Berne did, it would add enormous credibility to the democratic system.
01:20 Gaining democratic credibility was also on the EU agenda this week.
01:24 To ensure transparency and fairness of the upcoming European elections, almost all political
01:29 groups in the parliament signed a code of conduct.
01:33 The signatories especially pledged not to produce, use or disseminate misleading content,
01:39 generated for example by artificial intelligence.
01:44 Brussels praised the code of conduct as an important means to fight against the high
01:47 level of public distrust in the European institutions.
02:13 And right on cue, the system showed that it can produce meaningful results.
02:18 After years of negotiations, the European Parliament adopted the new EU Migration and
02:23 Asylum Pact, a series of laws designed to streamline migration policy and fix the current
02:29 status quo.
02:31 Yet, the compromise is not appreciated everywhere.
02:34 Some wanted even tougher rules.
02:37 Others worry about the respective human rights of migrants and their families.
02:41 Joining me now is Yves Getty, head of the European Institutions Office of Amnesty International
02:46 and Director of Advocacy.
02:48 Welcome to the program.
02:49 Thank you for having me.
02:52 So Amnesty has been very critical of the reform package since it was first proposed four years
02:57 ago.
02:58 I'll come to this criticism in a minute, but first, are there any positive elements
03:02 of the pact?
03:03 Well, positive in that we do have now an agreement.
03:07 Positive in that the ongoing negotiations have come to a close.
03:12 But in terms of the technical detail of the agreement, for us, this is not at all positive.
03:17 What we have really here is a downgrading of asylum law.
03:21 We have also a rollout of detention, increase of detention and normalization of detention
03:28 across Europe.
03:29 And we have what is really kind of a lowest common denominator approach.
03:33 There is really opportunity for Europe as a group of 27 states with a common approach.
03:39 We think to come up with something really very much better.
03:42 You're also saying the pact would put people at heightened risk of human rights violations.
03:47 Why is that so?
03:48 Exactly.
03:49 Because, I mean, what we're seeing also is with this pact that there's going to be less
03:52 legal support for people when they arrive.
03:55 They'll be put through an accelerated procedure.
03:58 And with this pact, EU member states have created this legal fiction of non-entry so
04:04 that a person can be on European territory physically, but actually denied by the pact
04:10 the protections and rights which align with that.
04:12 That's also something that's very concerning, even beyond migration, just for rule of law
04:18 and human rights in Europe more generally.
04:20 Yet the defenders of the reform consider it a fair improvement between far-right obstructionism
04:26 and far-left fantasy solutions.
04:29 Where do you come down on this?
04:31 I think we would like to see kind of less pride from legislators on reaching an agreement
04:37 and actually more responsibilities about the real consequences of this agreement.
04:42 For us, it will really not do anything to improve Europe's common response to migration
04:46 and protect all peoples at borders.
04:48 We've been long been calling on EU institutions and member states to move away from short-term
04:53 political interests which sideline human rights and really look to a longer-term future-proof
04:59 facility.
05:00 Again, there are a lot of criticisms on both sides.
05:02 Now, worldwide, more than 110 million people are forcibly displaced.
05:08 What can we expect when the pact comes into force in 2026?
05:12 I think when it comes into force, it's going to be even while the standards that we set
05:15 as amnesty are very low, for us these standards are much lower than we would have liked and
05:20 which actually international law and international refugee law require.
05:25 It is important, I think, that the Commission starts also enforcing the standards that it
05:28 has in place.
05:29 It's not that we've come to 2024 with no EU standards or international standards.
05:34 We have those, but what we have is member states opting in and opting out and frequently
05:38 often violating these standards.
05:40 So a key thing for us will be enforcement, accountability for standards that do exist.
05:45 All right, Eve Getty, head of the European Institutions Office of Amnesty International.
05:50 Thank you for your insights.
05:51 Thank you for having me.
05:54 We started the show with Switzerland and we're going to end it with Switzerland.
05:59 In Geneva, watchmakers are once again showcasing their most luxurious and spectacular creations
06:05 at the Watches and Wonders Fair.
06:08 No cost of living crisis here.
06:11 Industry sources say consumers are still willing to spend between 1,000 and 3,000 euro for
06:16 a Swiss watch.
06:18 But that kind of money is not remotely enough to buy the biggest or the thinnest watches
06:24 on display.
06:25 Or how about the most accurate moon-face watch ever produced?
06:30 A watch called Portugieser Eternal Calendar automatically accounts for leap years.
06:37 This means it will only deviate by one day over 45 million years.
06:43 Well, would you have the patience to check?
06:47 For up to 50,000 euros, you could be one with eternity.
06:53 That's it for this edition.
06:54 I'm Stefan Grobe.
06:55 Thank you for watching.
06:57 Have an excellent week.
06:58 Thank you.

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