European leaders with anti-immigration positions are increasingly sitting at the table and for the second time, in a clear symbolic gesture, the president of the European Commission, Ursula Von der Leyen, has joined. The far-right prime ministers Giorgia Meloni and Viktor Orbán, several from the Popular Party family, such as Donald Tusk and Kyriákos Mitsotákis, but also the Danish social democrat, Mette Frederiksen, held a meeting before the European Council meeting in Brussels.
Although the immigration debate is not one of the main ones in that meeting in which the future of the war in Ukraine now that a negotiation is beginning to be glimpsed, they have repeated the photo from two months ago as the tightening of immigration policies progresses on the continent. And, Von der Leyen, has chosen a side by participating for the second consecutive time in the meeting, sponsored by the far-right Meloni.
Precisely Meloni’s ideas are those that the president of the European Commission intends to copy, who first opened up to study the deportation centers for migrants outside European territory, such as those that Italy has created in Albania (and that the Italian justice system has stopped ), and just two months later he said that he is already analyzing logistical issues.
“We have deepened our analysis of innovative ways to fight illegal immigration,” Von der Leyen said in a letter to the leaders of the 27 prior to the European Council this Thursday, using the euphemism that has become common in the tightening of the immigration policy. “We are studying the best way to introduce the possibility of establishing these centers into the legal framework. We have to examine the legal, operational and practical aspects, as well as the financial implications of such centers while respecting fundamental rights and the principle of non-refoulement,” the letter added.
Spain is radically opposed to this proposal, but its voice in the European Union is becoming increasingly isolated in the immigration debate. However, Pedro Sánchez’s team tries to downplay the progress of anti-immigration policies and, specifically, deportation centers. “The letter is very complete,” government sources pointed out about Von der Leyen’s letter, which also referred to other measures, such as agreements with third countries, in many cases dictatorships, to control migratory flows.
What they maintain in the Government is that we have to wait to see what exactly the returns directive that the European Commission will put on the table in the coming months contains. However, Von der Leyen also points to a rapprochement with the 17 countries that proposed sanctioning people without papers who do not collaborate in their return. “The new legislation will address the rights and obligations of returnees, encouraging their cooperation and making clear the consequences of lack of cooperation,” Von der Leyen explains in her letter.
Recently, European governments were inclined to eliminate the ‘humanitarian clause’ that allows humanitarian assistance to migrants not to be criminalized. Spain was left alone in rejecting the text, although Germany and Portugal also questioned the decision.
And although they are not part of the ‘club’ that meets before the European councils, other leaders, such as the German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, have made decisions in that direction, such as the reintroduction of border controls within the Schengen area or paralyzing applications of asylum for Syrian people hours after the fall of Bashar al Assad. There, too, Spain has been left practically alone in the rejection.
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