On Wednesday 11 December, Greens/EFA MEP Tineke Strik (Dutch) criticised the European Commission’s new communication on hybrid threats and the weaponisation of migration at the EU’s external borders (see EUROPE 13543/1), arguing that it allows “Member States to reject fundamental rights, including the right to asylum”.
“This is legalizing pushbacks. It opens a Pandora’s box of derogations”, she commented on X. “[It] is grist to the mill for Russia and Belarus that the EU can be manipulated out of its values”, she added.
Fabienne Keller (Renew Europe, French) felt that “this statement by the Commission paves the way for national security to be used as a reason to limit asylum rights. (...) We remain vigilant about respect for the right to asylum under the Geneva Convention”.
“I support the Member States that share a border with Russia. This must not be at the expense of international rights. The European solution is obvious: proper implementation of the ‘Pact on Migration and Asylum’”, added the French MEP on X.
For Amnesty International, “there is something particularly dark, cynical and shameless about the Commission's communication on the ‘weaponisation’ of migration. This is a disturbing endorsement of violations of international and European law by European states, which are doubly punishing people in need of security”. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)