After more than four hours of discussions on migration, the heads of state or government of EU Members States agreed on a common language on Thursday 17 October in Brussels, and in particular expressed their interest in working on new and innovative ways of combating irregular arrivals to the EU.
With the Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, bringing up the difficulties encountered at his country’s external border, linked to the instrumentalisation of migrants orchestrated by Belarus and Russia, they also affirmed their “solidarity” with Warsaw and promised to intensify their efforts against these hybrid attacks.
Invited to give their views on new avenues such as “return hubs” - potential centres in third countries that would receive migrants refused asylum in the EU - the leaders did not, however, choose to give substance to this concept or mention it in the conclusions. Some countries also displayed different concerns.
Right up to the end of the Summit, it was not certain that the EU27 would approve the conclusions, as some of them wanted more time to put these innovative measures into practice, having showed a preference to adopt the conclusions in December.
However, according to the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, and the President of the European Council, Charles Michel, the leaders’ discussion was nonetheless fairly consensual and “constructive”, with “greater convergence on the external dimension”, said Mr Michel.
For Ms von der Leyen, the discussion on the return of illegal immigrants focused on three elements for “three different situations”. The first concerns people in need of international protection, but who do not necessarily need to obtain it “only in the EU”. On Thursday, the President reiterated the Commission’s plan to review in 2025 the concept of ‘key third country’, which several countries are asking to be amended in order to relax the requirement for a personal link between the asylum seeker and the third country receiving him or her.
The second part of the discussion focused on these “return hubs”, with many “questions still unanswered”, in particular about the length of time people will be held in these return centres or what will happen to them if no other third country takes them back.
Finally, the third part looked at how the EU could support the work of the IOM and the UNHCR in third countries to prevent people from leaving for the EU and to organise the repatriation of migrants to their countries of origin.
According to the two European leaders, the discussion was also an opportunity to reiterate the importance of implementing the ‘Pact on Migration and Asylum’, with Ms von der Leyen again saying that she was open to helping the Member States to speed up its entry into force.
But while all the Member States considered it “absolutely essential to combat illegal immigration”, they reiterated that “it is just as important, at the same time, to have clear spaces for legal migration”, added Charles Michel.
Although the EU27 held a relatively calm discussion, they did not all agree on the solutions. Spain and Belgium have expressed their reservations about these “return hubs”, stating that they are unlikely to bear fruit and are tantamount to false solutions.
French President Emmanuel Macron has also expressed his “scepticism” about these “return hubs”.
“I’m in favour of having discussions to make returns more efficient. But discussions with third countries that would accept people we don’t want to keep and whose countries of origin don’t want them, I’m more sceptical”, he commented.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, for his part, cited his country’s experience with Afghanistan and spoke of plans to do the same with Syria, focusing in particular on people posing a greater security risk in the EU. But he also called for these debates to be conducted intelligently.
For his part, the Spanish Prime Minister, Pedro Sánchez, stressed “that orderly, responsible and well-managed migration, in other words legal migration, is the answer to the demographic challenge facing Europe and Spain. Our current and future competitiveness, our country’s economic growth and the sustainability of our social model also depend on immigration, and our credibility in the eyes of the rest of the world also depends on how we manage migration policy”.
Poland. The Polish Prime Minister, Donald Tusk, told his colleagues about the difficulties at the external borders with Belarus, explaining that almost 9,000 police officers were being mobilised.
He received the full support of his partners, who “completely understand” the seriousness of the situation, a source reported.
Ms von der Leyen also pointed out that other countries experienced this situation several years ago, notably the Baltic States and Finland, and that temporary and proportionate measures can work well within the existing legal framework. The President did not seem to be opposed to any measures that might be taken by the Polish government, but in these situations it is also necessary “to be very clear” that these actions are the work of a third party state actor who is exploiting the instrumentalisation of migrants.
In the conclusions, the leaders explain that Russia and Belarus or any other country “cannot be allowed to abuse our values, including the right to asylum, and to undermine our democracies”. But while the European Council reiterates its determination to ensure effective control of external borders by all available means, it also stresses that “this must be done in line with EU and international law”.
Breakfast on migration. On Thursday morning, the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, took part in the breakfast organised by the Italian, Danish and Dutch leaders on how to make progress in exploring innovative ways of reducing irregular arrivals. The leaders of Austria, Cyprus, Greece, Malta, the Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary also attended the meeting. In particular, Ms von der Leyen presented the main areas of work outlined in her letter to the leaders (see EUROPE 13504/15).
The Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, for her part, presented the Italy-Albania agreement, which came into effect on Monday 14 October.
Discussions also focused on the ‘safe third country’ concept, cooperation along migration routes with the UNHCR and the IOM, voluntary returns and “return hubs”.
The Netherlands is discussing a return centre project with Uganda. On Wednesday 16 October, the conservative Dutch government announced that it was studying a plan to send rejected African asylum seekers to Uganda.
Questioned on the subject on his arrival, the Prime Minister, Dick Schoof, said that this was one of the “innovative solutions of fundamental interest” to his European partners.
Acknowledging that these new solutions will take some time to develop, he also stressed his country’s interest in the Italian-Albanian model. “We’ll see how we can move forward with that”.
To see the conclusions of the European Council: https://aeur.eu/f/dy2 (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic with the editorial staff)