The question of linking an asylum seeker with the transit country to which he or she intends to be sent back in case of rejection of the asylum application “is one of the points that was slightly revised today” on the day characterized by the EU agreement on the subject of migrants. “It is up to the Member States to determine whether there is a connection between the asylum seeker and the third country” to which he is intended to be sent back. In the negotiating position on regulations voted today “there is still a link, but it is up to the Member States to evaluate it”. Swedish Migration Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard said so at a press conference in Luxembourg. The issue of the migrant’s ‘connection’ with the transit country was one of the latest points of friction: some countries insisted that returning a migrant to the transit country was only possible if there was a link between the person and that country, while other countries, such as Italy, did not want this connection to exist. The country of transit must in any case be a “safe third country”, in line with international law.
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