Immigration Minister of the Interior Mikkonen on the proposal of President Niinistö: Finland to find out whether there is room for improvement in regulations related to borders

Brussels

Minister of the Interior Krista Mikkonen (vihr) says that the working group of civil servants is currently investigating how Finland is preparing for possible hybrid influence at its borders and whether the related regulations need to be corrected and reformed in law.

President Sauli Niinistö On Wednesday, after the opening of the parliament, the EU raised the so-called EU border procedure, which Finland has not introduced.

This procedure can reduce unfounded asylum applications, for example in situations where a country tries to direct asylum seekers across the EU’s external border to the EU.

The border procedure is already in place in the current directive, but only some EU countries have introduced it.

“Many countries have done this, Finland has not. I don’t think it might take that much time, ”Niinistö said on Wednesday.

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Minister of the Interior According to Krista Mikkonen, it has been estimated in Finland that the border procedure “does not add much value” to the examination of asylum applications in normal situations.

“We have thought that it would be good to find a common solution at the EU level also to instrumentalization issues,” Mikkonen said. In this context, instrumentalisation means that asylum seekers are used as a means of hybrid advocacy.

The report of the civil service working group will be completed in two weeks.

Mikkonen attended the informal justice and home affairs council of EU interior ministers in Lille, France, on Wednesday and Thursday.

The President of France Emmanuel Macron He spoke to ministers on Wednesday, saying the EU should treat the Schengen area of ​​free movement in the same way as the eurozone and hold regular ministerial meetings.

According to Macron, such a “Schengen Council” could monitor the activities of the region, take joint decisions and coordinate the actions of the member states, for example, in the event of a crisis related to the activities of a region.

According to Mikkonen, Finland considers this to be a good development and supports France in bringing Schengen control into the political debate.

Schengen basically means that border controls at the EU’s internal borders have been abolished. In practice, this has not been the case in recent years, but countries have introduced border controls due to, among other things, the coronary virus epidemic, terrorist threats and immigration.

EU countries There have been significant differences of opinion on the regulation of immigration and the control of the EU’s external borders.

France intends to accelerate the long-awaited reform of its immigration policy during its presidency and to take steps forward. In the first phase, control and registration at the external borders will be renewed.

In addition, support would be provided to those countries with the greatest responsibility for the control of external borders and the reception of asylum seekers.

“There is a clear desire in the member states to move forward now,” Mikkonen said.

The meeting endorsed France’s step-by-step approach to reform.