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The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has received a wish list from the EU countries regarding new measures regarding asylum and migration. Archive image.
1 / 3 Photo: Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP/TT
The wish list is ready for tougher measures regarding asylum and migration in the EU.
The far right rejoices over “new winds in Europe”.
Last week’s EU summit in Brussels was dominated by a migration discussion with clear demands for tougher measures. This has caused the most migration-critical EU leaders to quickly add even more requests.
At a meeting in Slovakia on Tuesday, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán agreed with Slovakia’s Robert Fico and President Aleksandar Vucic of non-EU country Serbia to push to place all asylum seekers in centers in North Africa.
– You have to wait outside. All other solutions are ineffective, Orbán said, according to the AP news agency.
Proposal in progress
So far, however, there is a long way to go before any common asylum centers outside the EU. However, it is clear to see which other new measures are underway.
First of all, there will probably be a proposal that tightens the requirements that people who have not been granted asylum in the EU must go home and how this is to be done. It is promised by Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, but will not be presented until her new Commission is in place, from 1 December at the earliest.
According to the plans, it is Austria’s conservative finance minister Magnus Brunner who will take over as asylum and migration manager. There will be many questions about how he intends to act when he is questioned by the EU Parliament on November 5.
Agreements and walls
Step number two will probably focus on more multi-billion dollar deals with countries outside the EU, along the lines of those made with Libya, Tunisia and Egypt. They are formally there to support local migration management, but have been criticized as a way for the EU to buy off a tougher grip on migrants and asylum seekers who have not yet boarded boats across the Mediterranean.
A third step is to draw up a common list of “safe countries” where migrants can be sent back without danger – something that the EU Commission has already been working on for a long time.
Step number four may be to formally allow EU money for border walls and fences – a recent demand from the heavy group of conservative parties in the EU, which also includes M and KD.
New winds?
In turn, it is significantly longer to set up possible return centers or the type of asylum management outside the EU that Italy is trying in Albania.
Much is legally uncertain and will probably have to be tried in the EU’s court – even if the turn to a tougher stance is clear.
– A new wind is blowing in Europe, said Dutch anti-immigration veteran Geert Wilders in Brussels last week.
FACTS Migration underway
In the EU leaders’ joint statement on migration from the summit in Brussels on 17 October, the importance of implementing the legislation that was decided on – in practice the asylum and migration pact that was voted through last spring – is emphasized.
The EU leaders also call for increased cooperation with the countries where refugees come from or pass through. They want the European Commission to quickly come up with the new legislative proposal to speed up the return, a proposal that President Ursula von der Leyen has already promised.
Russia and Belarus are particularly condemned for their way of funneling migrants and asylum seekers to the EU.
In addition, it is said that “new ways to prevent and combat irregular migration should be considered, in accordance with EU law and international laws”.
Source: European Council.
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