European leaders meet Tuesday to debate new EU migration plans aimed at easing public unrest and balancing humanitarian and political concerns.
According to documents seen, the interior ministers' meeting in Luxembourg will come before a meeting of the bloc's 27 leaders at a European Council in Brussels later this month. A scheme to send rejected migrants to "return hubs" in non-EU nations and a rule to guarantee that decisions made on applications by one government are implemented by others are two of the ideas being debated this week.
“Across the EU we are currently only returning a small share of the third-country nationals illegally staying here,”
said Rasmus Stoklund, immigration minister for Denmark, which holds the rotating six-month presidency of the Council of the EU. “This is a completely unacceptable situation.”
The more mainstream leaders of the bloc are being driven to respond by the growth of populist, anti-immigration parties throughout Europe. Nonetheless, there is no agreement on what is reasonable and how it should be handled because many centrist governments have historically been more receptive to accepting immigrants.
Tuesday’s ministerial meeting marks the first high-level political discussion on the European Commission’s proposed update to the EU’s deportation law. Politicians are having to grapple with the thorny question of how to ensure people can’t simply move to another European country if they are unsuccessful in securing a visa or claiming asylum.
EU governments are coming to believe that
“we must be much more efficient in returning people with no right to stay in Europe,”
said a EU diplomat, granted anonymity to speak about the sensitive draft plans.
“The Commission has worked quite fast and delivered an ambitious proposal, enabling the establishment of return hubs in third countries, clear obligations for people in return position, and generally making return procedures more quick.”
The Commission looked at clearing the system by allowing countries to remove people based on decisions made by other governments without having to start the process over because national authorities are only able to deport roughly one-fifth of the people they have decided should leave, a figure that Commission President Ursula von der Leyen described as "far too low." Currently, the recognition of decisions made by other countries is voluntary.
Social cohesion and the legitimacy of European institutions in the eyes of European citizens are also at risk due to Europe's sagging migration system, according to Denmark's Stoklund.
According to von der Leyen, one of her political goals is to update the law. By the end of the year, Denmark is under pressure to get an agreement among the 27 member nations that may be brought up in talks with the European Parliament.
What human rights concerns have been raised about the pact?
Critics warn the Pact significantly weakens protections for migrants and asylum seekers, allowing states to evade responsibilities by outsourcing border controls and detention to countries with poor human rights records.
This could lead to increased pushbacks, expanded use of detention (including of families and children), and racial profiling within the EU.
The Pact has been criticized for inadequate provisions addressing family unity and protection of children, especially regarding sibling reunification. Unaccompanied children face heightened risks of exploitation and abuse, with the Pact allowing some member states to classify unaccompanied minors as security risks subject to coercive measures like biometric data collection.