EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the agency could “learn lessons” from Italy’s controversial policy of processing migrants overseas in Albania ahead of an EU summit on migration.
He said this in a letter he wrote to member states before the meeting to be held in Brussels on Thursday and Friday, where he said the European Commission will present a new proposal for a law to increase the deportation of migrants.
Von der Leyen – who has just started a second five-year term as head of the European Commission – appears to be responding to immigration pressure from across Europe.
In his letter to member states, he said the rate of return of irregular migrants from EU countries is currently around 20% – meaning that the majority of people ordered to leave an EU member state do not.
Many simply stay or move to another country within the bloc, he said.
The member states should all be aware of the decisions taken by other EU countries to ensure that “migrants who decide to return to one country cannot exploit the cracks in the system to avoid returning to another”, writes Von der Leyen.
His comments come as Italy begins its long-awaited program, where some of the migrants rescued in the Mediterranean will be sent to Albania for processing.
Earlier this week, 16 men of Bangladeshi and Egyptian origin were taken from the tropical island of Lampedusa, on the coast of Sicily, to one of two purpose-built centers on the Albanian coast where their asylum claims will be assessed.
The facilities, which cost around 650 million euros (£547m), were due to open last spring but suffered long delays, have been paid for by the Italian government and will operate under Italian law.
They will house the migrants while Italy examines their asylum applications. Pregnant women, children and vulnerable people will not be included in this program.
Right-wing Italian Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni’s political opponents and several NGOs have criticized Italy’s cooperation with Albania.
Riccardo Magi, a member of Parliament with the left-wing +Europa group, said the Albanian system is “cruel, useless and expensive”, while the NGO Doctors Without Borders said it “may cause harm and human rights violations”.
However, speaking to MPs on Tuesday, Meloni said the plan was a “new, bold, unprecedented approach” that “fully reflects the European spirit”.
The implementation and results of the Albanian agreement will be closely watched by many EU member states, several of which have tried to respond to the increase in support for far-right groups by toughening their rhetoric and their approach to migration.
Only in the past few weeks, Germany has reintroduced global border checks, the French government has said it will look to tighten immigration laws and Poland has announced a plan to temporarily suspend the right to asylum for people crossing the border.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the controversial move was aimed at stopping Belarus from “demolishing” Poland by allowing large numbers of migrants into the country.
In France and Germany, it was the gruesome killings that prompted a crackdown on immigration. A Syrian who failed to seek asylum stabbed three people to death in Solingenwhile a young student was killed by a Moroccan citizen near Paris. In both of these incidents, the killings were carried out by men who had been given eviction orders that had not been followed.
Last month, 15 member states signed a proposal by Austria and the Netherlands to improve the “efficiency” of the deportation system.
Source link