Immigration | Ursula von der Leyen promises to find out the new methods required by Finland to combat migration

Brussels

European Union is moving more and more strongly to a model in which migration is already being fought outside the borders of the Union. The leaders of the EU countries as well as the person seeking a further term at the head of the Commission Even Ursula von der Leyen believe that the focus of immigration policy is shifting to agreements with the Union’s neighboring countries to stop migrants.

Von der Leyen sent a letter to EU leaders this week, the core message of which was that new measures are still needed to combat migration. The EU countries reached an agreement this year on a major immigration and asylum reform, the so-called pact, but its application will not start until the summer of 2026.

“The pact is undeniably a significant breakthrough, but it alone is not enough to guarantee success,” von der Leyen writes in a letter seen by HS.

“It is clear that the EU will succeed in stopping uncontrolled migration to the EU only if we are able to implement comprehensive and smart measures with our neighbors.”

According to Von der Leyen, contracts must be tailored on a case-by-case basis and mutually beneficial. He mentions at least Lebanon as one example of a country with which cooperation must be deepened.

The Commission has already concluded agreements with Turkey, Tunisia, Morocco, Mauritania and Egypt to curb migration. In the agreements, the countries receive investments or financial support from the EU and, in return, undertake to combat migration.

Part member states, including Finland, are also pushing for a model in which the asylum procedure could be moved completely outside the borders of the EU.

In May, the Minister of the Interior Mari Rantanen (ps) together with 14 of his colleagues sent to the commission the letter, in which he called for new ways to combat immigration. The ministers suggest, for example, that boats carrying migrants could in the future be directed to countries considered safe outside the EU.

The ministers urge the model to be taken from the migration agreement between Italy and Albania. According to the agreement, Albania undertakes to receive approximately 36,000 migrants aspiring to Italy each year. For this, Italy builds reception centers in the country and also operates them.

In his letter von der Leyen seems willing to at least explore such solutions.

“The agreement on the pact does not mean that we stop thinking about the tools at our disposal. Many member states are looking for innovative strategies to prevent migration by processing asylum applications further from the EU’s external borders. There are ongoing discussions about ideas that certainly deserve our attention when the next institutional season starts.”

Immigration is also one of the big topics of discussion at the EU summit that started on Thursday. There, the leaders of the EU countries are supposed to agree on the Union’s strategic agenda for the next five-year period. EU leaders are also expected to give their blessing to new agreements with third countries.

“Using comprehensive partnerships, the European Union will continue mutually beneficial cooperation with countries of origin and transit,” the draft agenda states.

The draft also states that EU countries are considering new ways to prevent uncontrolled migration.

Human rights organizations have criticized the agreements made by the EU for not securing the fulfillment of migrants’ rights. Organizations and the media have reported on the ill-treatment of migrants, including abandoning them in the desert.

Picum, an organization defending the rights of undocumented migrants, recently criticized von der Leyen’s letter.

“Agreements to outsource migration are extremely inhumane, ignore the causes of international migration and violate international laws and values ​​on which Europe is based,” the head of the organization Michele LeVoy says in the statement.