'We have a historic opportunity to get it right on migration': EU Commission VP Schinas

We start with the shock win by the far right in the Dutch elections – something that is linked to voters' concerns and fears about migration and immigration. Schinas is cautious in his reaction.

"Twenty-five percent of Dutch voters voted for Geert Wilders, but 75 percent didn't," he comments. "So when the government will be formed, the first thing that would be quite interesting to see is whether all this hate rhetoric that shaped his campaign will be translated into a government programme. We don’t know that yet. So I would very much like to give the next government a chance, to see whether it will reflect this hate speech or not. In any case, the European model of society is fully incompatible with any form of discrimination or hate."

Schinas sounds an optimistic note about rounding off the negotiations to adopt a Europe-wide Pact on Migration and Asylum.

"Everything that we do not like about migration in Europe is the direct consequence of the fact that we do not have a European migration and asylum policy," Schinas says. "We have tried for many years in the past to establish this regulatory framework. And let's face it, Europe failed. So now, after decades of failures, we have a historic opportunity to get it right. Our proposals for an EU pact for migration and asylum are now being finalised through inter-institutional trilogue. We have made huge progress. We do still have a pending issue on our proposal for more expedited returns [to third countries], which we think is an important component of the overall policy."

Asked about the timeframe, Schinas says: "I'm confident we are getting there and this will be one of the main elements of the overall legacy of the von der Leyen Commission, before Europeans go to vote