Finland’s most important goal in relation to immigration is to get support for preventing instrumentalized immigration.
Finland accepted in July Conversion Actwhich in the EU are called pushback laws. The law required the order in which the constitution was enacted and aroused a lot of conflicting feelings.
On the basis of the Exception Act, persons seeking to enter the country are not allowed to submit asylum applications, for example, but are turned away directly from the border.
The background is Finland’s concern that Russia would rush asylum seekers to the border in large numbers, i.e. use migrants for hybrid influence. Another fear is that Russia would send people to Finland to hack or do damage.
So far, the number of people trying to cross the border has been under control.
The exception law has therefore not been applied in practice. The implementation of the law requires a separate decision.
Poland is following Finland’s example
Although the law is valid in Finland, Finland wants an EU-level solution to the matter.
At least Poland now wants to follow Finland’s solution.
Prime Minister of Poland Donald Tusk wants to temporarily deny the right to apply for asylum to migrants coming from Belarus.
Tusk appeals to the Finnish model when justifying his decision.
Poland has not found a solution to the flow of migrants from Belarus. During the flow of people orchestrated by Belarus that started in August 2021, 100,000 illegal immigrants have sought to enter the country. Humans have become pawns in the hybrid war.
Dozens of people have also died at the border. Belarus has not necessarily taken back the migrants turned by Poland, but they have been stuck in the forests of the border area.
According to hardly, Russia and Belarus take advantage of the asylum system.
The acceptability of Finland’s Conversion Act is currently being reviewed by the EU Commission.
Both Finland and Poland also face opposition from human rights organizations and lawyers. Refusing to apply for asylum violates international agreements. The right to asylum is guaranteed in, among other things, the UN Declaration of Human Rights and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights.
Return centers for the EU?
Prime Minister of Italy Georgia Meloni on the other hand, praises the Albanian model.
Italy is moving asylum seekers who tried to cross the Mediterranean to two reception centers set up in Albania to wait for their asylum applications to be processed. The first 16 asylum seekers have just been transferred to Albania.
Men are transferred to centers in Albania, women and children are allowed to stay in Italy.
Chairman of the Commission Ursula von der Leyen sent a letter to the EU leaders on Monday, in which he said he supports centers to be established outside the EU for people returned from EU countries to their home countries. So there would be deportation centers in third countries. The Commission will investigate the matter.
The Finnish government also wants to promote the placement of asylum seekers outside the EU. This is included in the government’s wishes for the next commission.
Even in Finland, during the EU elections, there was a lot of talk about the Rwanda model, where Britain was sending asylum seekers to Rwanda. Britain’s new prime minister Keir Starmer however, canceled the plan and the model is in a headwind anyway.
Albania’s model is fairer, because in it the applicant with a positive asylum decision gets to Italy. In the Rwanda model, the migrants would have stayed in Rwanda.
Return centers have their problems
The border can be encountered where there are receiving countries. Albania has said that it will not make any other agreements besides Italy. Among others, Serbia has been featured.
The possible countries are so far from Finland that flying migrants would be expensive.
Agreements are expensive anyway, so that countries agree to receive newcomers.
The EU has similar asylum agreements with Turkey, Tunisia and Egypt. For example, the EU promised one billion euros to Tunisia. Several billion euros have been paid to Turkey for various projects.
Human rights organizations criticized the relocation of asylum centers. Monitoring the conditions of asylum seekers after their journeys is difficult.
Von der Leyen has already praised the agreement between Italy and Albania. In the letter, he says that the rest of Europe can learn from the experiences of Italy and Albania.
According to Von der Leyen, the EU should nominate safe third countries for organizing returns.
The background of the projects is that attitudes towards immigration have tightened in EU countries. In many countries, anti-immigration far-right parties have increased their support.
The number of asylum seekers in the EU has remained at last year’s level, although illegal immigration has clearly decreased, according to Frontex, which monitors European borders.