EU Chief announces plan to increase migrant deportations
Ursula von der Leyen, the President of the European Commission, has proposed that the European Union could “learn lessons” from Italy’s controversial policy of processing migrants offshore in Albania. Her remarks are made in anticipation of a critical EU summit in Brussels that is dedicated to migration. Von der Leyen is anticipated to present new proposals that are designed to increase the number of irregular migrants deported.
Von der Leyen acknowledged in a letter to EU member states prior to the summit that the bloc’s current approach to deporting irregular migrants is ineffective, with only approximately 20% of those who were ordered to leave the EU successfully returning. This results in the majority of migrants either remaining in the country from which they were commanded to depart or relocating within the EU.
Von der Leyen advocated for increased collaboration among EU member states in order to resolve this matter, encouraging them to acknowledge and enforce the deportation decisions of other EU countries. She cautioned that migrants who have been issued a deportation order should not be able to exploit vulnerabilities by relocating to another EU country in order to evade expulsion.
Her comments are timed to coincide with the official debut of Italy’s eagerly anticipated migrant processing program in Albania. The plan entails the transfer of a portion of the migrants who were rescued in the Mediterranean to Albania, where their asylum claims will be processed at newly constructed centres. This week, 16 males from Bangladesh and Egypt were relocated from the overcrowded migrant hotspot of Lampedusa to one of these centres on the Albanian coast.
The centres, which were financed by the Italian government and cost approximately €650 million, are intended to provide temporary housing for migrants while their asylum requests are being reviewed. The program does not apply to vulnerable populations, such as pregnant women and children. Albania’s scheme is now operational, despite being delayed from its initial launch date. Other EU member states will closely monitor it as they seek solutions to the increasing challenges posed by migration.
The initiative has been criticised by political opponents and human rights organisations, despite the fact that Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni has defended it as a new, courageous, unprecedented path that is in accordance with the European ethos. Riccardo Magi, a member of the left-wing +Europa party in Italy, characterised the policy as “expensive, pointless, and cruel.”
The issue of migration remains a profoundly divisive one in the European Union. In response to the increasing public support for far-right parties, numerous member states, such as Germany, France, and Poland, have implemented more stringent immigration policies. France and Poland both announced intentions to tighten immigration legislation, while Germany reinstated land border checks. Donald Tusk, the Prime Minister of Poland, defended the suspension of asylum rights for individuals who crossed from Belarus, claiming that it was necessary to prevent Belarus from destabilising Poland by facilitating the flow of migrants.
In response to these developments, a proposal was recently signed by 15 EU member states, with Austria and the Netherlands serving as the lead countries. The objective of this proposal is to enhance the efficacy of the bloc’s deportation system.