A group of 15 EU countries calls for toughening expulsions of migrants without the right to asylum. international

The European Union is preparing another twist in its migration policy even before the migration and asylum treaty agreed last April comes into force. The interior ministers of countries such as Spain, France and Germany called this Thursday to speed up the implementation of the agreement, which tightens arrival conditions and opens the door to the distribution of asylum seekers between member states at a time of maximum pressure. Opens. , But for most of the union’s countries – especially the 15 countries including France and Germany – this is not enough. The group of states has called for a toughening of expulsion policy in a document signed this week, while Hungary’s president has openly discussed the possibility of expelling migrants to third countries to prevent them from applying for asylum there. Can do.

The meeting of interior ministers held in Luxembourg this Thursday had a very hot agenda item: tightening the deportation policy. It was not about jumping to conclusions or making decisions. But there is to be a discussion before the European Council next week in which EU heads of state and government will address one of the EU’s most divisive elements, migration policy. The appointment comes at a time when countries like Spain are under increasing pressure as a surge in arrivals and the far-right have fueled debate, as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán said in the European Parliament a day earlier. Had done.

“We must understand that the agreement is comprehensive,” said Ylva Johansson, the Home Affairs Commissioner, who indicated upon her arrival that she believed this to be her last EU Council meeting (until the next European Commission meeting in December. is expected to take charge in ). And this is noted in the answer he gave at the end of the meeting, when asked whether the return or deportation directives – which are not part of the immigration agreement – ​​should be reformed: “It will be the coming commission that will “It will take the initiative. There are things that are not part of the agreement and they have to be resolved,” the Swede replied.

Hungarian Interior Minister Sándor Pinter stressed the link between migration and crime, saying, “We have talked in detail about the return policy, that decisions should be made more quickly in the current regulatory framework, because crime is often related to ” , without providing evidence, Prime Minister Orbán exposes again and again.

Ahead of the meeting, the 17 countries of the Schengen free movement area (the 15 of the EU plus Switzerland and Norway) have officially signed this brief document already sealed during the week, in which they asked the Commission to reform that rule. Which controls the return of migrants. Which is not included in the migration and asylum treaty. In it they call for “a new paradigm” for cooperation with third countries, where “people without the right to remain” would have to return. “The lack of cooperation must have consequences and be sanctioned,” said the document drafted by Austria and the Netherlands, which also includes Germany, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Finland, France, Croatia, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta has also joined. , Sweden and Slovakia. Switzerland and Norway joined them as members of the Schengen Area.

The document does not call for the creation of centers outside the EU to process residence and asylum applications, following the model that, for example, Italy agreed with Albania to take in migrants rescued at sea. Is. That explicit request was included in another letter in May signed by another fifteen countries (not all agreeing to the current document), which proposed this “innovative solution”. The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, raised that challenge in response. And Hungary, the country that holds the presidency of the Council of the EU this semester, has taken advantage of this to openly raise it in preparatory documents for this meeting. To apply for asylum in Hungary, refugees must go to embassies in Kiev and Belgrade.

Despite precedents, Brussels and Budapest declined to comment at the end of the meeting this Thursday. Commissioner Johansson dismissed, “It’s not the Commission’s proposal, I don’t have to respond.” “This is not even a Hungarian proposal,” Minister Pinter said.

“I do not deny possibly No solution,” said the French interior minister, Bruno Reteleau. “We must resort to all innovative solutions,” he added. However, he clarified that such policies would be unconstitutional in France. According to sources in several delegations of member states, French receptivity to this debate matches that of other countries.

One of the countries that has expressed doubts about these policies is Spain. When asked directly about the matter, Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlasca explains that “the issue is to implement the migration agreement as quickly as possible.” Thus he maintains the line expressed the day before in Congress by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, when he announced that he was going to seek to bring forward the application of this agreement, which took five years to reach and form. It took years. Ideal.

Frenchman Retaileau and his German counterpart, Nancy Feser, have also opted to accelerate the deadline for a set of rules that are already in place, but are to be implemented by June 2026. “It is a priority for me to implement the European asylum and migration package as soon as possible. We are talking very closely with the Commission about whether we can bring forward the provisions of the agreement. This would be a great way to move forward. This is a clear European signal that we want to do this together. I have only been able to talk to one or two of my colleagues this morning, including, for example, my Spanish colleague,” the German announced.

The proposal to advance the application of the treaty has been well received by Johansson: “If a state wants to, it can come into force sooner (in the context of the migration treaty), we would support that.”