The EU is preparing to give one more twist to its migration policy even before the Migration and Asylum Pact approved last April is applied. The Ministers of the Interior of countries such as Spain, France and Germany have asked this Thursday to accelerate the implementation of this agreement, which toughens the conditions for arrival and opens the door to a distribution of asylum seekers between Member States at times of maximum pressure. . But for the majority of countries in the Union – 15 in particular, including France and Germany – it is not enough. This group of States calls for toughening the expulsion policy in a document signed this week, while the Hungarian presidency has put on the table openly discussing the possibility of expelling migrants to third countries so that they can apply for asylum from there.
The meeting of Interior Ministers held this Thursday in Luxembourg had a very hot agenda item: the tightening of the deportation policy. It was not about reaching conclusions or making decisions. But there is a discussion prior to a European Council in which the heads of State and Government of the EU will address next week one of the most divisive elements of the EU, migration policy. The appointment comes at a time when pressure is growing due to the increase in arrivals in countries like Spain and with the thriving far-right fueling the debate, as the Hungarian Prime Minister, Viktor Orbán, did a day earlier in the European Parliament.
“We must understand that the pact is broad,” said the Commissioner for Home Affairs, Ylva Johansson, who upon her arrival indicated that she believes it is her last meeting of the EU Council (the next European Commission is expected to take office in December). And this has been noted in the response she gave at the end of the meeting, when asked if the return or deportation directive – which is not part of the immigration agreement – should be reformed: “It will be the incoming Commission that will take the initiative. There are things that are not part of the pact and will have to be solved,” the Swede responded.
“We have talked at length about the return policy, that decisions be made more quickly in the current regulatory framework, because crime is often related,” declared the Hungarian Minister of the Interior, Sándor Pintér, insisting on the link between migration and crime that, without providing evidence, Prime Minister Orbán repeatedly exposes.
Before the meeting, 17 countries in 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 ask the Commission to reform the rule that regulates returns of migrants, which is not included in the Migration and Asylum Pact. In it they demand “a new paradigm” so that there is collaboration from third countries to which “people without the right to remain” must return. “Lack of cooperation must have consequences and be sanctioned,” says the document prepared by Austria and the Netherlands, which has been joined by Germany, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Finland, France, Croatia, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta. , Sweden and Slovakia. Switzerland and Norway join them as members of the Schengen zone.
This document does not talk about creating centers outside the EU to process residence and asylum applications, following, for example, the model that Italy has agreed with Albania to take migrants rescued at sea. That express request was included in another letter signed in May by another fifteen countries (not all agree with the current document) that proposed this “innovative solution.” The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, picked up that gauntlet in the response. And Hungary, the country that presides over the Council of the EU this semester, has taken advantage of this to openly raise it in the preparatory documents for this meeting. To apply for asylum in Hungary, refugees must go to the embassies in kyiv and Belgrade.
Despite the precedents, this Thursday Brussels and Budapest refused to comment anything at the end of the meeting. “It is not a proposal from the Commission, I do not have to respond,” Commissioner Johansson rejected. “It is not a Hungarian proposal either,” Minister Pintér pointed out.
“I do not rule out a priori no solution,” said the French Interior Minister, Bruno Retailleau. “We must resort to all innovative solutions,” he continued. However, he has clarified by pointing out that these types of policies in France would be unconstitutional. French receptiveness to this debate coincides with that of other countries, according to sources from several delegations of Member States.
One of the countries that shows suspicion of these policies is Spain. When asked directly about the matter, the Minister of the Interior, Fernando Grande-Marlaska, points out that “the issue is to implement the migration pact as soon as possible.” He thus maintains the line expressed the day before by the President of the Government, Pedro Sánchez, in Congress, when he announced that he was going to demand that the application of this agreement be brought forward, which took five years to reach and become the norm.
Also the Frenchman Retailleau and her German counterpart, Nancy Faeser, have opted to accelerate the deadlines of a set of rules that are already in force, but have to be deployed until June 2026. “It is a priority for me to apply the joint European asylum package as soon as possible. and migration. We are talking very closely with the Commission about whether we could even bring forward the provisions of the pact. It would be a very good way to move forward. It is a clear European signal that we want to do it together. I have already been able to speak with one or two colleagues this morning, including my Spanish colleague, for example,” declared the German.
The proposal to advance the application of the pact has been welcomed by Johansson: “If any State wants, it can implement it sooner. [en referencia al pacto migratorio]”We will support him.”
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