The liberal group in the European Parliament has presented its own proposals for new migration agreements with countries surrounding Europe. In their view on asylum and migration, the EU group Renew Europe considers control over migration the key word.
The plan focuses on agreements between the EU and countries around Europe regarding decent reception of refugees in their own regions. At the external borders, a selection should be made in "reception centers" between promising and less promising asylum seekers. Migrants from safe countries should be quickly returned, and promising asylum seekers distributed across the EU countries. Countries of origin that do not cooperate can be pressured with "visa sanctions" under the plan.
In this regard, the plan shows many similarities with the so-called Turkey deal that was prepared several years ago by German Chancellor Merkel and Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte. In that deal, Turkey received several billion in economic and financial support from the EU for the reception of refugees from Syria and Iraq. The plan now proposed by the EU liberals is not only broader and more specific, but also more far-reaching.
The liberal Renew Europe points out that in an ever faster changing world, the current EU rules for the reception and admission of refugees and asylum seekers no longer suffice, and sometimes even conflict with other EU rules, such as those on āfree movement of personsā. It also increasingly appears that refugees are not deterred by national rules of individual EU countries.
Deputy group leader Malik Azmani (VVD) co-wrote the policy plan that was handed over to the European Commission on Tuesday. The new European Commission will come later this year with its own proposals intended to break the European deadlock on migration policy. The Dutch liberal Azmani was earlier one of the advocates of the Turkey deal.
āIf we do nothing now, we cannot rule out a repeat of the migration crisis of 2015,ā Azmani said yesterday at a press conference in Strasbourg. He made clear that the liberals want to shift the discussion from more or fewer refugees to control over the refugee flow.
Other points include strengthening surveillance of the EU external borders, mandatory registration of migrants, and preventing unwanted travel of asylum seekers across member states. Furthermore, the EU must ensure better coordination of labor migration policy, which should remain a national competence.
If the liberals have their way, EU countries will select labor migrants from a "European talent pool." It is crucial, however, that they can easily return to their own countries. Renew finally calls on member states to put participation at the center of their integration policies.
GroenLinks MEP Tineke Strik said in response that the plan does not relieve the pressure on countries at the European external borders and overcrowded refugee camps. She pointed out that currently 5 of the 28 EU countries host three-quarters of the asylum seekers. To truly share responsibility fairly, asylum seekers should, according to Strik, be distributed immediately after registration across all member states.