EU is considering suspending asylum rights: a foundation to build on

The EU interior ministers discussed the whole day in Luxembourg on Thursday, and in the evening EU Interior Commissioner Magnus Brunner appeared in front of the press with jubilant reports. There is a “record low” in asylum applications in Europe, and the number of irregular border crossings has fallen by 55 percent in the past two years, he announced beamingly. In Austria there are now more deportations than new applications, and the situation is similar in other countries. “This is a real change that shows: our reforms are working,” said Brunner, who comes from Austria.

By the reforms he meant the EU asylum system Geas, which he called the “pact”, which came into force on June 12th after nine years of negotiations. So from the Interior Minister’s point of view everything is OK? Are you kidding me? Are you serious when you say that. The pact is of course only the “foundation,” said Brunner. And with a foundation, “you don’t stop, you build on it.” And that is why three new reforms were on the agenda at the meeting of interior ministers, with which the EU borders should be protected even more strongly.

On the one hand, the group formally accepted the new EU return regulation. This new deportation law, among other things, gives the authorities wide scope to raid private apartments and other “relevant premises” in the search for those required to leave the country. Detention is possible for more than 24 months. Above all, it allows EU states to set up deportation centers in third countries at their own discretion. Those who have to leave the country should be able to be brought there if the EU cannot deport them to their own countries. How long and under what circumstances they will be held in these camps is unclear. An EU working group in which Germany is involved, among others, wants to sign agreements with the first partner states this year. Negotiations are taking place with countries such as Rwanda and Uganda, among others.

The return regulation “intensifies immigration detention and deportations, promotes a witch hunt against undocumented people and gives member states a free hand to send people to places they don’t even know,” says Chiara Catelli of Picum, an association that advocates for the rights of migrants. “The result will be that more and more people will be afraid to approach public authorities or seek protection for fear of being detained or deported.” Ultimately, the regulation will create more – not less – irregularity, said Catelli.

Secondly, the interior ministers discussed a new mandate for Frontex on Thursday, but have not yet made a corresponding decision. According to Federal Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt (CSU), the EU border protection agency should set up a “rapid reaction force” that could be available at any point on the external border within 24 hours in order to prevent border crossings. This is intended to respond to situations such as those in the Spanish exclave of Ceuta at the end of July.

Before the ministerial meeting, Frontex director Hans Leijtens spoke out against giving Frontex the opportunity to take over operational management in situations like Ceuta. This should remain in the hands of the member states. Thirdly, and this point attracted the most attention, ministers had discussed a new “emergency mechanism”. The incidents in Ceuta showed that people are being pressured to migrate “by actors who want to harm Europe and are being pressured to migrate with false promises,” said Brunner. He did not say who the actors in the Ceuta case were supposed to have been. But there are “scenarios in which mass movements are organized and used as weapons”. This form of hybrid attacks, alongside the increasing number of drone attacks on the eastern border, is a danger that the EU must protect itself from.

In fact, the EU has only just introduced a crisis mechanism with the Geas asylum system. This should, among other things, apply when refugees are “instrumentalized” in order to put pressure on the EU. In this case, affected Member States are allowed to deviate from normal asylum procedure rules. Among other things, they are allowed to take longer to register asylum applications and carry out expedited procedures more easily.

The new emergency mechanism should go far beyond this. Dobrindt, for example, wants “the normal asylum procedures not to take place” in such cases - so the right to asylum should be able to be suspended completely. Poland and Latvia are already doing this on their own initiative. At the meeting on Thursday, Greek Migration Minister Thanos Plevris also spoke out in favor of stopping the acceptance of asylum applications. French Minister Marie-Pierre Vedrenne, on the other hand, referred to existing instruments in EU migration policy that have not yet been used.

The new emergency mechanism should “not undermine” the Geas, said Irish Home Affairs Minister Jim O’Callaghan, who chaired the meeting. “Everyone agrees we need him.” The issue will be discussed further at a meeting of EU heads of government next week. The commission then wants to publish a concrete proposal, said Interior Commissioner Brunner.