If you read Washington’s latest security strategy which criticizes European migration policies and claims the continent is facing “civilisational collapse”, you might think the EU is leaving its borders open.
In fact, Irregular migration is decreasing in the block, And EU states have stepped up their most restrictive migration rules to make it easier for members to rapidly detain and deport rejected asylum seekers.
Danish Immigration Minister Rasmus Stoklund said the new reforms would help fix the “dysfunctional” EU system and restore a sense of “control”.
But the move has also been strongly criticized by human rights monitors, with Amnesty accusing the group of mirroring “the harrowing, inhumane and unlawful mass arrests, detentions and deportations in the United States.”
Migrants being sent to foreign detention centers?
The series of reforms backed by EU home affairs ministers on Monday includes a legal rubber-stamp on the idea of so-called “return hubs”. This could mean detention centers outside the EU where migrants could be sent to have asylum claims processed – or even as part of a one-way ticket out of Europe.
rewrite rulesWhich still requires negotiation with the European Parliament, would allow individual EU governments to make deals with states beyond the bloc’s borders and send migrants there – even if they have no ties to the country.
While Denmark started considering ways to send migrants back to Rwanda in 2021, the first EU member to try it in practice was Italy. It set up centers in its non-EU neighbor Albania last year, but the centers in Rome ran into legal challenges and were put on hold.
Italy’s interior minister said on Monday that the agreement between ministers puts the Albania-based center in a good position to become the first real-world example of an EU return hub and “resume” operations.
But migration policy analyst Helena Hahn said the “jury is still out” on what a return hub might look like beyond Italy’s model – and above all, which non-EU states would be willing to host migrants heading to Europe.
‘weasel out?’
Charities and campaigners, including Human Rights Watch and Oxfam, have in the past criticized the EU for “avoiding responsibility” by trying to outsource asylum processing.
“The EU is attempting to impose more of its responsibilities on countries that already host the majority of refugees with very few resources,” dozens of NGOs said last year.
His statement stressed that the EU’s pledges to uphold migrants’ rights were “empty platitudes”.
Denmark’s Stoklund rejected those allegations on Monday. “If we send someone to a return centre, we will be responsible to respect their human rights,” he told reporters after talks in Brussels.
Faster deportation by designating ‘safe’ countries
EU states also backed new proposals designed to speed up deportations, including tougher penalties for migrants who ignore removal orders. This follows an earlier agreement on EU plans Reducing trade relations with countries that fail to cooperate on deportations.
so ministers Gave the green light to a centralized list of “safe” countries Which can be used by national authorities to make rapid decisions and refuse residence to those who are least likely to be granted asylum.
only around Last year, 4% of Bangladeshi asylum seekers were accepted into the EU. For example, Bangladesh tops the list of countries considered safe by Brussels. Other states on the list include India, Colombia, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia.
The ministers agreed that EU candidate states such as Montenegro, Moldova or Serbia should also be considered safe, except in cases of conflict or restrictions on fundamental rights.
Relocate migrants or pay for aid
EU states have finalized a plan that analyst Helena Hahn sees as somewhat bucking the trend toward more restrictions.
Member states in the north and east of Europe in the so-called “solidarity pool” will either take in more migrants from the southern states where most asylum seekers come from – or pay into a funding pot to support states such as Cyprus, Spain, Italy or Greece.
Hahn describes it as “a mechanism to organize and coordinate the sharing of responsibility on asylum seekers between member states” – and she thinks it is a “big step forward.”
“Questions related to transfers, quotas, the ‘fair’ distribution of asylum seekers across Europe have always been – for the longest time ever – one of the main political sensitivities that have affected the implementation and functioning of the Common European Asylum System,” he said.
Details of which countries will pay how much have been kept secret, but EU member Hungary has already vowed not to follow the rules – something that could lead to a future legal confrontation between Brussels and Budapest.
Voters’ concerns and growing right wing
EU citizens often cite irregular immigration as one of their top concerns. Block-wide survey data Earlier this year pollsters placed it second only to Russia’s war in Ukraine in their list of the biggest challenges facing the EU – ahead of the cost of living, climate change and security and defense issues.
Far-right parties focusing on anti-immigrant messages are gaining popularity in many EU countries, with centrist forces trying to win back votes.
“We are looking at a massively restrictive immigration agenda,” researcher Helena Hahn told DW. He said more and more countries are trying to come up with so-called “innovative solutions” to stop, detain and deport migrants.
“But we have seen very little results so far,” Hahn explained. “So it also, I think, speaks to the political feasibility of some of these ideas that seem to suggest that it would be quite easy to move people from A to B, without any particular kind of respect for political, diplomatic or practical considerations.”
Edited by: Jess Smee