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Euronews
27-05-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
What are the EU's 'safe country' proposals for asylum seekers?
The European Commission plans to make it easier to send asylum seekers for processing beyond the bloc's borders by revising the concept of a "safe third country". Under current EU immigration rules, member states can transfer asylum seekers to a non-EU country that is considered safe, but only if the migrants have a connection with the nation in question, such as a previous visit or family connection. A new proposal, announced by the Commission last week as part of a wider overhaul of asylum procedures, said that requirement should be removed. Critics say this mirrors a plan by the previous UK government to deport asylum seekers to Rwanda, which was scrapped after being ruled unlawful by the country's Supreme Court. However, German MEP Lena Düpont, a member of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU) who supports the proposal, argued that it sends the right message. Data from the European Commission showed that, every year, at least 400,000 foreign nationals without the right to stay in the EU are ordered to leave. However, only around 20% of them are effectively returned. Meanwhile, NGOs and migration experts said the proposal raises serious concerns about guaranteeing fundamental human rights, and could burden poorer nations. "Far from it being chaotic and arbitrary to send people to countries to which they have no connection, no prospects, no support, we also see that as fundamentally devastating on a human level," said Olivia Sundberg Diez, Amnesty International's EU advocate for migration and asylum. "It ignores a person's agency, and therefore we don't consider that it can be reasonable to expect them to remain there. This cannot be a sustainable solution," she added. The proposal follows another motion from the Commission called "Safe Origin Countries", which was put forward last month. It said that asylum requests of migrants coming from EU candidate countries, such as Turkey and Georgia, and seven other countries deemed "safe", could be fast-tracked as they are "unlikely to be successful". Some EU member states, including Italy and Greece, already have a national register of safe countries of origin, but the proposed EU list aims to support a more uniform system, according to the Commission. "The aim is to improve both the processing of asylum claims when they can be seen as manifestly unfounded for various reasons. And at the same time, make sure that those who do not have a right to stay within the European Union, but are already here, are effectively returned," said Düpont, the German MEP. Human rights groups have questioned whether some of the countries on the list should really be considered safe. For example, the list includes Egypt, where, according to Human Rights Watch, the authorities systematically detain and punish critics and activists, and persecute LGBTQ+ people. The Commission has presented the list as a "dynamic" one that can be expanded or modified over time, and said that nations that no longer fulfil the criteria will be removed. "This increases the risks of arbitrary, automatic detention in countries far from the EU," said Sundberg Diez of Amnesty. "We've already seen in the EU's existing engagement with countries like Tunisia [with which the EU has a memorandum of understanding] that it simply doesn't have the ability or the interest in monitoring and enforcing human rights protections." She stressed that the proposals the Commission has put forward since March all have the same intention, "which is making it harder for people to access safety in Europe and shifting that responsibility to offer protection to countries far from the bloc". Düpont disagreed with this take. "Both proposals share the aim to make asylum and return procedures more efficient, more effective, but of course, also more implementable for the member states, so that we can kind of bring back order and humanity to the common European asylum and migration policies," she said. The proposals will be heard by the European Parliament and the European Council. This will be followed by talks to agree on a common text, which will eventually become law. EU ministers meeting for a General Affairs Council in Brussels have begun a hearing on rule of law in Hungary under the framework of the EU's Article 7 process, as patience wears thin over recent legal initiatives in Budapest. Viktor Orbán's government's self-styled "spring clean" includes a draft transparency law, targeting foreign-funded media and NGOs, and the ban on the Budapest Pride, which are among key concerns that set to be raised in the hearing. Ahead of the meeting, 17 member states published a joint declaration denouncing the ban on Budapest's Pride march, claiming it violates EU law. "We are highly alarmed by these developments which run contrary to the fundamental values and human dignity, freedom, equality, and respect for human rights, as laid down in Article 2 of the Treaty of the European Union," the declaration said. The letter recalled that new Hungarian legislation allows fines to be imposed on participants and organisers of the Pride event and will also allow for the identification of participants with AI smart camera systems. "We call upon Hungary to revise these measures, to ensure the human rights and fundamental freedoms of all its citizens are respected and protected, thus complying with its international obligations," it read. The declaration was signed by Austria, Belgium, Czechia, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Ireland, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Portugal, Slovenia, Sweden and Spain. The signatories also called on the European Commission to make full use of its rule of law toolbox if Hungary does not revise the law. Hungary's EU minister János Bóka rejected the criticism on arriving at the meeting. "There is no such thing in Hungary as a Pride ban. At today's hearing, I will explain to my colleagues the constitutional and legal framework. I hope that after this discussion, my colleagues at the table will walk out with a more nuanced view of the Hungarian legislation," Bóka said. The Article 7 process began in 2018 when the European Parliament called for Hungary to be sanctioned because of alleged rule of law violations, especially in the field of justice and media freedom. The Council has discussed the issue seven times subsequently, but has never taken the step of triggering the next stage in the Article 7 process, in which member states would be called on vote on sanctions. Critics also fear a draft Hungarian bill titled "Transparency of Public Life', which was tabled in the Budapest parliament on 13 May, would offer the Hungarian government sweeping powers to crack down on the press and critical voices in civil society. The European Commission has asked Hungary to withdraw the bill, saying that if adopted, "it would constitute a serious breach of EU principles and law", according to a Commission spokesperson. Sweden's EU minister voiced concerns about backsliding on the rule of law, transparency, and "a crackdown on civil society and LGBTI rights" as she entered the meeting. "We have had seven years, seven hearings, and I will be very clear today that this cannot just continue unless we see a completely new attitude from the Hungarian side today, I think its time that we consider the next steps, as this is getting pointless to continue," Sweden's EU minister, Jessica Rosencrantz, told reporters. "The first phase of the Article 7 process has now been ongoing for a relatively long time, so no one can accuse us of not being patient," German EU minister Gunther Kirchbaum told reporters, adding "at a certain point we have to make up our minds about what is next". "I can tell you that my colleagues' patience is disappearing day by day," he said. Hungary's Bóka said that political hysteria surrounded the meeting but added that Hungary was ready for dialogue. On Monday, an EU diplomat said that ministers will not call for the deployment of sanctions under Article 7 against Hungary on Tuesday because they lack the requisite majority.
Euronews
07-04-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
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".
