_bartolomiej_pietrzyk_-_shutterstock__xlarge.jpg "Europe raises its barriers to migration")
(c) Bartolomiej Pietrzyk - Shutterstock
Europe raises its barriers to migration
The bloc’s interior ministers have this week thrown their collective weight behind a sweeping package of migration reforms.
These reforms will feed into the Pact on Migration and Asylum, which covers all stages of asylum and migration management and is due to enter into force six months from now, on 12 June. It contains clear rules on responsibility for processing asylum applications, strives to reduce illegal entries, and sets out solidarity measures between member states in order to ease the burden on those countries where most migrants tend to arrive.
Return hubs
Earlier this week, the bloc’s interior ministers came together for a Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting in Brussels. On Monday (8 December), they took decisions on several missing parts of the jigsaw – specifically three legislative texts aimed at speeding up and simplifying both asylum applications and the procedures for removing rejected asylum seekers.
For one, ministers reached a common position on the return regulation, a law that makes it possible for member states to establish ‘return hubs’ outside EU territory for unsuccessful migrants awaiting repatriation.
Rasmus Stoklund, the Danish minister for immigration and integration, whose country currently holds the EU’s rotating presidency, hailed this agreement at the press conference following Monday’s meeting.
Rasmus Stoklund, Danish Minister for Immigration and Integration (in English):
“I'm delighted that with today's agreement, we'll make it possible for both the European Union and one or more member states to make an arrangement or agreement with a third country on return hubs. Furthermore, a new EU return order will facilitate the exchange of information necessary to recognise other member states' return decisions.”
The Italian government is also delighted with the content of the agreement in the Council as it very much reflects what Giorgia Meloni’s team have been asking for.
Indeed, the Italy-Albania Protocol, signed in November 2023, theoretically works along similar lines, although from an earlier stage in the asylum process than the so-called return hubs are intended to be used. Had it not been blocked by the European Court of Justice in August, it would allow Italy to process asylum claims for intercepted migrants from ‘safe countries’ in dedicated centres in Albania – centres to be funded by Italy and under Italian jurisdiction. Rome now intends to relaunch the initiative in the context of the EU’s evolving regulatory framework.
But what are the chances of the EU’s new legislative text remaining as it currently stands, given that it now needs to be hammered out with the European Parliament?
In an interview with Radio 24 in Milan, political science professor Marco Balboni from the University of Bologna believes that what we see now is likely to be more or less what we will get a few months down the road.
Marco Balboni, Political Scientist (in Italian):
“From a formal point of view, it is still too early to claim victory, because this is the agreement that has been reached within the Council, but it will also have to be approved by Parliament. Then these proposals will have to be better written, revised and discussed with Parliament. But frankly, I do not expect any major changes from Parliament, because given the majorities that are now forming within the European Parliament, it is very plausible that the European Parliament will essentially greenlight what the Council is proposing with only minor amendments.”
Not everyone is happy with this plan, though. Many civil society organisations fear that, with these third-country return hubs, the bloc could be essentially legitimising offshore detention.
‘Safe’ countries
Ministers also agreed to a legislative text on safe countries of origin and safe third countries. The idea is to make it quicker and more efficient for EU countries to deport unsuccessful asylum seekers, either back to their country of origin or on to another ostensibly ‘safe’ country they transited through.
A list of ‘safe countries of origin’ will, for the first time, be approved at EU level. This list will include EU candidate countries such as Albania and Turkey, Bangladesh, Colombia, Morocco and Tunisia, and it will certainly speed up the processing of asylum claims.
Denmark’s immigration minister, Rasmus Stoklund, makes the case for this new legislation.
Rasmus Stoklund, Danish Minister for Immigration and Integration (in English):
“Last year, more than 43,000 from Bangladesh applied for asylum in the EU. A very low percentage, about four per cent of all asylum applications to the EU, actually needed protection. Bangladesh is one of the countries on the list of safe countries of origin, and the list will help us to create faster and more efficient asylum processing so that we have a better opportunity to return migrants without a need for protection.”
On the flip side, critics suggest that this new procedure will allow member states to reject applications from these countries without even examining the substance of the case.
It is also worth noting that until now, an asylum seeker had to have some kind of connection to the third country to be sent there, but now it will suffice for an EU member state to have an agreement with the country in question. Asylum seekers could therefore be ‘returned’ to countries they have never been to before and to which they have no family or cultural ties.
Negotiations on these legislative texts will begin with the European Parliament in the not-too-distant future.
Solidarity pool
Finally, member states agreed – if not unanimously – on the so-called Solidarity Pool, the Commission’s proposed mechanism that requires member states to take in a certain number of relocated migrants, and/or to provide financial or operational support. This will become a binding obligation once the Council formally adopts the implementing decision, due to happen before the end of the year.
There are three types of solidarity measures to support the four countries considered to be under major migratory pressure (Cyprus, Greece, Italy and Spain). The first is physical relocations, with a total of 21,000 migrant relocations ultimately agreed, down from the Commission’s initial proposal of 30,000. Should a country not wish to take in any migrants, then they will be obliged to provide an ‘equivalent’ amount of financial support. And finally, there is a separate category of alternative, ‘in-kind support’.
Six member states – Austria, Bulgaria, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Estonia and Poland – may be granted deductions due to heavy migration pressure over recent years. In principle, all the rest are free to decide for themselves whether to opt to take in relocated migrants or pay funds into the common pot.
Luxembourg does not, unlike Austria or Poland, currently qualify for a reduced allocation, and will likely opt for a combination of relocations and financial support, says Léon Gloden, Luxembourg’s interior minister.
He highlights, however, that many asylum seekers in Luxembourg arrived via another EU country – countries that should, under the terms of the Dublin Regulation, have processed their asylum claims. Gloden would like to see his country’s relocation figures reduced to take account of these individuals, who he refers to as ‘Dubliners’. He is speaking to 100,7.
Léon Gloden, Interior Minister of Luxembourg (in Luxembourgish):
“We need to see if we can partially compensate for the relocations with the ‘Dubliners’ that we already have here. Because it is well known that Luxembourg has a lot of Dubliners – there are about 700 of them here. We will discuss this bilaterally with countries like Spain, Greece and Italy to see how we can proceed.”
On the subject of the Dublin Regulation, Greece is currently negotiating proactively with a number of European countries that have been burdened by these so-called ‘secondary flows’. In other words, migrants who have transited through Greece and on to more affluent destinations before seeking asylum. It is currently unclear if Luxembourg numbers among these.
As Greek migration and asylum minister Thanos Plevris explains to our colleagues at Skai, Athens is keen to wipe the slate clean before the new migration pact comes into force, by persuading these countries to drop their demands for Greece to take these individuals back and process their asylum claims.
Thanos Plevris, Greek Minister for Migration and Asylum (in Greek):
“It is important to understand that we must clear up outstanding issues from the past. Greece clearly emphasises that it is willing to discuss with other European Union countries the recognition of the solidarity they have shown. If all Dublin cases are cleared by the start of the Pact, we should all be on a clean slate. There should be no outstanding issues concerning the past. We have discussed this and have a common understanding with other European countries, such as Germany.”
It appears that such a deal was successfully struck with Germany on the sidelines of Monday’s Council meeting, Skai reports.
But despite the Solidarity Pool getting the go-ahead on Monday, not all members states were in favour. The usual suspect, Hungary, of course, has been vocally opposed to the idea of having to take any responsibility for the bloc’s migrants. But the European commissioner for internal affairs and migration was having no truck with this.
Magnus Brunner, Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration (in English):
“The pact is binding on all member states. Also, everyone benefits from this big reform. And solidarity is flexible, it's mandatory. So yes, of course, member states can first of all choose how they contribute. On the other hand, of course, there are rules – and rules are rules. So of course, the Commission, as a guardian of the Treaty, will have to do everything [to ensure] that member states comply with the rules.”
An ongoing focus
It is clear that Brussels will be putting ongoing pressure, too, on external partners to play their part in the bloc’s big migration push-back, as Commissioner Brunner also points out.
Magnus Brunner, Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration (in English):
“I think we have to take a Team Europe approach also, everyone together putting migration on the table when it comes to all different policy files. We see this in trade, for instance, where we will withdraw trade benefits when countries do not cooperate on readmission of their own nationals.”
Even before Trump started egging us on from across the Pond, the tide really had turned in Europe in terms of migration and asylum policy. Perhaps people are wary of speaking up, or perhaps they are being drowned out, but either way, very few voices – particularly voices in high places – are to be heard putting the case FOR migration nowadays.
But in a recent interview with Renascença, André Costa Jorge, the director general of Portugal’s Jesuit Refugee Service, attempts to do just that.
André Costa Jorge, Director General of Jesuit Refugee Service (in Portuguese):
“We need to look at immigration not only from a restrictive perspective, but also from a dynamic perspective.”
What exactly does he mean by this? Well, he points out that migrants to the EU often end up in low-paid, low-skilled work, despite the fact that many of them – including refugees – may well be overqualified for these jobs. He thinks we are missing a trick here.
André Costa Jorge, Director General of Jesuit Refugee Service (in Portuguese):
“I believe that there is much to be done in terms of attracting talent, which also means making use of skilled migration.”