The EPP takes firmer line on migration in policy pitch
ADVERTISEMENT
Migrant return hubs, a stronger role for Frontex and toughening the criteria for migrants to be joined by their families are among stances touted by a new position paper on migration adopted by the European People's Party (EPP) group this week, which would align the party with its more right-wing counterparts in the Parliament.
Under the title 'Harnessing Migration: A Firm, Fair, and Future-Oriented Approach" the 9-point action plan "to halt uncontrolled migration' seen by Euronews is meant to define the group's stance on issues such as returns, fighting migrant smuggling and protection of external borders as well as the Schengen area, EPP German MEP Lena Düpont told Euronews.
Among controversial measures it presents to reduce irregular migratory flows, it includes a pitch for the use of European funds to finance 'physical infrastructure' at the EU's external borders, breaking a long-standing taboo.
In January Commissioner for Home Affairs Magnus Brunner
left
the door open to the use of EU money to finance barriers during a debate in the European Parliament.
The document says that fresh financial resources from the EU budget are needed to meet all needs in the area of border protection, as the EU should 'shift the paradigm forward, from border security to border defence.'
The EPP is in favour of boosting the capacity of Frontex, converting it into a 'fully operational European border agency equipped with state-of-the-art, advanced surveillance technologies such as drones, AI, and biometric systems.'
Frontex agents should also be deployed in African countries such as Senegal and Mauritania to prevent illegal migrants leaving, a possibility currently under
discussion
. Under discussion in what context?
The paper touts partnerships with third countries as very important means of stemming irregular migration by encouraging them to prevent departures and implement effective means of readmitting nationals. Those who do not cooperate with the EU should not receive European funds or visas, the paper states.
Another controversial aspect concerns the Schengen Area. Several member states have temporarily reintroduced checks at their borders with other EU countries to deter so-called 'secondary movements' of migrants, an idea also floated by incoming German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
While the suspension of Schengen is generally
criticized by the Commission
, the EPP paper 'recognises the right of member states to reintroduce temporary internal border controls as a last-resort measure, applied exceptionally.'
The largest group in the Parliament now also strongly endorses a 'temporary derogation from the right to asylum when migrants are instrumentalized as weapons against the EU', something already been
done
by prominent EPP member, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.
The right to asylum is enshrined in EU law and in the 1951
Geneva Refugee Convention
, which was originally adopted to protect European refugees displaced by World War II.
'The EU must initiate a dialogue on adapting the Geneva Convention to the current world,' in order to address 'the legitimate concerns of member states regarding security and migration management,' according to the document.
Other ideas contained in the position paper include a crackdown on family reunification of refugees, which 'should require demonstrated integration and financial stability prior to its authorization', and the revision of the European Prosecutor's mandate to include investigations into migrant smuggling.
Finally, the EPP's position paper considers the Italy-Albania protocol adopted to process overseas asylum requests addressed to Italian authorities as 'a first but decisive innovative step to dissuade illegal migration' aligning on this with the views of the European Conservatives and Reformists and Patriots for Europe, the two main right-wing groups in the Parliament.
ADVERTISEMENT
MEP Düpont describes this document as part of a "push for a firm and fair asylum and migration policy that covers the most aspects possible", she told Euronews. "We will reach out and work with the other groups on the basis of that spirit".
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Euronews
6 hours ago
- Euronews
Dutch citizens carry out own border checks to protest migration policy
Equipped with high-visibility vests and lamps, a group of Dutch citizens has been carrying out their own checks at the German border, prompted by dissatisfaction with the current migration policy. The participants, who number around a dozen according to local media reports, decided to take matters into their own hands and have been engaged in border checks, videos of which have been circulating on social media. They have been applauded by right-wing politician Geert Wilders, whose PVV party withdrew from the Dutch coalition government last week after it refused to adopt his migration proposals. The same day, Prime Minister Dick Schoof announced he was also stepping down, slamming Wilders' decision to leave the coalition as "irresponsible and unnecessary". "As far as I'm concerned, this shouldn't have happened," he said. A snap election will take place on 29 October following the collapse of the government. In contrast to Wilders, the Netherlands' Minister of Justice and Security, David van Weel, has been less enthusiastic about the citizens' action. "Frustration is understandable, but don't take the law into your own hands," he warned. He said the government is in favour of stricter immigration laws, he advised citizens to "Let the police and border police do their job." The police also advised the citizens to stop the border checks immediately. "Such actions create extremely dangerous situations on and along the road," the Dutch police said in a statement carried by the newspaper De Gelderlander, calling the border checks "really unacceptable." Around 30 people were evacuated from their homes in the upper Val de Bagnes in canton Valais in Switzerland after heavy rainfall unleashed a major mudslide. Residents of the village of Les Epenays will be "housed elsewhere for an indefinite period. It depends on nature, it makes the laws," Antoine Schaller, deputy secretary general of the municipality of Val de Bagnes, told local news. The area saw heavy storms last week, after which mud, wood and large stones tore away the temporary emergency bridge in the upper Val de Bagnes, but residents said buildings were spared. "The concern is the volumes coming down. And then there's the detachment zone in the mountain, where an entire section is moving at a rate of about two meters per day," said Pierre-Martin Moulin, General Secretary of Val de Bagnes. It comes just over a week after a landslide cause by a glacier collapse buried most of the Swiss village of Blatten, renewing attention on the increasing dangers of global warming. On 29 May, a large chunk of the Birch Glacier above the village had broken off, causing the landslide which also buried the nearby Lonza River bed, raising the possibility of dammed water flows. Swiss glaciologists have repeatedly expressed concerns about a thaw in recent years, attributed in large part to global warming, that has accelerated the retreat of glaciers in Switzerland. The landlocked Alpine country has the most glaciers of any country in Europe, and saw 4% of its total glacier volume disappear in 2023. That was the second-biggest decline in a single year after a 6% drop in 2022. In 2023, residents of the village of Brienz, in eastern Switzerland, were evacuated before a huge mass of rock slid down a mountainside, stopping just short of the community. Brienz was evacuated again last year because of the threat of a further rockslide.
LeMonde
6 hours ago
- LeMonde
One year on, Macron remains entangled by fallout of rash snap elections
Ten months after the facts, the political earthquake was still a topic of conversation, even during the Paris Book Fair at the Grand Palais. In front of a bookstall, amid the hubbub, former culture minister Françoise Nyssen, accompanying President Emmanuel Macron on his visit, suddenly confided: "Thank you for the dissolution," she whispered to him, referring to his decision to dissolve the Asseblée Nationale and trigger snap parliamentary elections, the night his side was beaten in the European elections of June 9. "I was really proud of you. What's more, it was June 9, my birthday." Briefly taken aback, Macron replied: "I will be forgiven with time." "It wasn't a bad decision," approved a woman listening in. "No, because people have to be made to take their responsibilities," Macron said, glancing at the journalist's boom mic recording the conversation. "Otherwise, things fall apart from the inside. I've seen it happen before." Was Macron sincere? During his televised New Year's address on December 31, 2024, when France was entering 2025 without a budget after the first post-dissolution government, led by Michel Barnier, had been toppled, the president publicly admitted for the first time that the move had, "for now, brought more divisions to the Assemblée than solutions for the French people." He added: "Clarity and humility require us to recognize that, for the moment, the decision has produced more instability than calm, and for that, I take full responsibility."
LeMonde
8 hours ago
- LeMonde
Italy's citizenship referendum fails due to low turnout
A referendum on easing citizenship rules and strengthening labor laws in Italy has failed due to low voter turnout, in a win for Giorgia Meloni, whose government urged people to boycott it. Over 50% of voters had to participate to validate the two-day referendum but by close of polls on Monday, June 9, just over 30% of those eligible had done so. The referendum proposal, triggered by a grassroots campaign and backed by the center-left Democratic Party (PD), would have reduced the time it takes to get citizenship. A non-EU adult resident without marriage or blood ties to Italy must currently live in the country for 10 years before they can apply – a process which can then take years more. A referendum win would have cut this to five years, putting Italy in line with Germany and France. But Prime Minister Meloni, whose far-right Brothers of Italy party has prioritized cutting irregular immigration even as her government has increased the number of migrant work visas, had said she was "absolutely against" the idea. And many members of her right-wing coalition urged people not to vote to prevent the threshold being met. The ballot included one question on citizenship. The four others were on increasing protections for workers who are dismissed, in precarious situations or involved in workplace accidents. CGIL general secretary Maurizio Landini slammed the low turnout as a sign of a "clear democratic crisis" in Italy. Under new leadership, the PD – which is polling behind Meloni's far-right Fratelli d'Italia – had sought to woo working-class voters by backing the referendum. Giovanbattista Fazzolari, Meloni's right-hand man, said the opposition "wanted to turn this referendum into a referendum on the Meloni government." "The answer seems very clear: the government emerges even stronger and the left even weaker," he told journalists in Rome. Even had it passed, the reform would not have affected a migration law many consider unfair: that children born in Italy to foreign parents cannot request nationality until they reach 18.
