EU | The EU wants to outsource the asylum procedure – Henna Virkkus is responsible for the implementation

Strasbourg

Finland commissioner candidate Henna Virkkunen (kok) is about to lead one of the most controversial reforms of this election period. The EU is preparing new measures to combat migration, and Virkkunen is responsible for leading this work.

Before the European elections, there was a heated discussion about the so-called Rwanda model. The name came from Britain’s intention to transfer asylum applications to Rwanda. The EU now also has similar goals.

Virkkunen is directing the preparation of the law, when the commission is considering the outsourcing of the asylum procedure, new migration agreements with third countries or common rules to combat instrumentalized immigration.

The questions are politically sensitive.

Commission chairman Ursula von der Leyen on Tuesday appointed Virkkunen as vice-president of the commission, whose responsibility is to coordinate the preparation of initiatives related to external and internal security. Border security is an integral part of this responsibility.

“Europe’s security depends on strong external borders. Your task is to strengthen the operational capabilities of border control and respond to threats at the EU’s external borders in close cooperation with member countries. It is also important to continue the work to promote a fair and robust immigration policy”, states the assignment given to Virkkunen.

Virkkunen directs the Austrian interior commissioner by Magnus Brunner work.

The EU agreed last season about the big immigration reform, and its implementation is Virkkunen’s responsibility. At the same time, however, the Commission is already preparing new measures to combat migration. The assignment that Brunner received gives an indication of the kind of preparatory work that is going on in the commission.

According to the terms of reference, Brunner’s responsibility is to develop “new innovative ways to combat irregular migration”.

In EU jargon, innovative means refers to, for example, the outsourcing of the asylum procedure. Outsourcing refers to various arrangements in which the reception and processing of asylum applications is transferred outside of Europe. The British Rwanda model or Italy’s agreement with Albania are often used as examples.

Outsourcing is gaining increasing support in Europe. Last spring, the largest group in the European Parliament, the center-right EPP, made the outsourcing of the asylum procedure a central requirement of its European election program. Von der Leyen and Virkkunen both represent the EPP.

Minister of the Interior of Finland Mari Rantanen (ps), on the other hand, sent 14 with their colleagues to the commission in the spring the letterwhich suggested that migrants rescued from the sea should be taken outside the EU to countries defined as safe, where migrants could be offered a “sustainable solution”.

The EU is preparing also a continuation of, for example, the agreements made with Tunisia, where the countries undertake to prevent migration to Europe and receive investments and subsidies in return. According to the assignment, Brunner’s task is to ensure that immigration is included in all cooperation agreements.

The agreements have received criticism that the EU finances undemocratic countries that do not protect the human rights of migrants.

Von der Leyen also raises the fight against instrumentalized immigration as Brunner’s central task. The leaders of the EU countries outlined in the summer that the EU needs common tools to combat instrumentalized immigration.

A number of member countries, including Finland, presented in Junethat EU legislation prevents the fight against instrumentalized immigration and member states should be given the right to deviate from the requirements of EU legislation on the basis of national security.

Speeding up and improving the return of people who have received a negative asylum decision is also one of Brunner’s most important tasks.