EU leaders to discuss stricter measures to curb arrivals of asylum seekers

Governments who see migration as a political and security risk will be looking for solutions including sending asylum seekers abroad while their claims are processed.

European Union leaders are to discuss stricter laws to curb migration following a recent surge in support for the extreme right.

While the conflicts in Gaza, Lebanon and Ukraine are on the agenda at the summit on Thursday in Brussels, a key topic will be how to deal with irregular migrants arriving in the 27-nation bloc by land from the east and by sea from the south.

This is seen by most EU governments as a political and security risk that is driving the rise of populist and far-right parties and influencing elections.

EU Council President Charles Michel, in an invitation letter to EU leaders, wrote,  “We will … focus on concrete measures to prevent irregular migration including strengthened control of our external borders, enhanced partnerships and reinforced return policies.”

Irregular migrants and refugees arriving in Europe last year numbered less than a third of the one million seen during the migration crisis in 2015. In the first nine months of this year, the number fell even more to 166,000, data from the EU’s Frontex border agency showed.

But the number of people arriving at the EU’s border with Belarus surged 192 percent year on year in January-September to 13,195 and the number of arrivals in the Spanish Canary Islands off the western coast of Africa doubled to 30,616, Frontex said.

Poland, which has presidential elections due in May, wants to temporarily suspend asylum rights for people crossing over from Russian ally Belarus, in a move many see as a violation of the EU’s charter of fundamental rights.

It said it draws its inspiration from Finland, which, faced with migrants pushed across the border from Russia, suspended such asylum rights in July.

‘Innovative’ projects

The EU agreed in May on a new set of rules and processes for handling migration, called the Migration Pact, but its full implementation is not due until mid-2026, leaving the bloc in a complicated transition period.

Further complicating matters, the Migration Pact has no instruments to deal with the “weaponisation” of migration by countries like Russia, nor does it solve the thorny issue of sending back migrants whose asylum applications have been rejected.

The European Commission said this week it would propose that migrants who have no right to stay in the EU be sent to “return hubs” in countries outside the EU, with which the bloc will strike deals.

In an unusually detailed pre-summit letter to the leaders, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen insisted there was “no room for complacency” and called for parts of the pact to be in place much sooner.

She also extended it to setting up “innovative” projects, like Italy’s outsourcing of asylum applications to Albania.

On Wednesday, the first refugees and migrants were taken by an Italian navy ship to the Shengjin port under a controversial deal between the two countries that sends asylum seekers outside the EU while their claims are processed.

“We will also be able to draw lessons from this experience in practice,” von der Leyen wrote. “These are innovative solutions that should in principle interest our colleagues here.”

The Netherlands’ conservative government said late on Wednesday it was also weighing a plan to send rejected African asylum seekers to Uganda.

Reinette Klever, the country’s trade and development minister, unveiled the idea during a visit to the East African country, but it was not immediately clear whether such a plan would be legal or feasible, or whether Uganda would be amenable to it.

“We are open to any discussions,” Ugandan Foreign Affairs Minister Jeje Odongo said in an interview with Dutch broadcaster NOS.

Germany is also wary of a public opinion backlash against irregular migration ahead of elections next September, especially after a knife attack claimed by ISIL (ISIS) as thousands gathered to mark the 650th anniversary of the city of Solingen in August.

Berlin introduced border controls with all its neighbours, suspending the freedom of the passport-free Schengen zone. France, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Italy and Slovenia have also introduced border checks.

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Al Jazeera and news agencies