The conservatives of the EPP, the leading political force in the European Parliament, advocate a transfer of asylum seekers to third countries in the face of migratory pressure, in their manifesto presented on Wednesday March 6, on the first day of their Congress in Bucharest.
This proposal marks a clear shift in European migration policy, implemented under the mandate of their leader Ursula von der Leyen, candidate to succeed her at the head of the Commission.
“We are pleading for a fundamental change in European asylum law (...) We want to implement the concept of safe third countries
,” writes the European People's Party (EPP) in this document which must be voted on at the end of afternoon.
“Any asylum seeker in the EU could be transferred”
to one of these countries
“and carry out asylum procedures there”
, it is specified.
“In the event of a positive response, the third country in question will grant on-site protection”
under a
“global contractual agreement”
concluded in advance.
“Not a humane and dignified migration policy”
The EPP thus takes up a point of the program of the German CDU, from which Ursula von der Leyen comes.
The measure aims to reduce the number of arrivals in the Union, Jens Spahn, party figure, explained in mid-December in an interview with the local press.
Many people would no longer come
“if it is clear that this leads within 48 hours to a safe third country outside the EU”
, he stressed, referring to Rwanda, Ghana or even countries in Eastern Europe such as Georgia and Moldova among the possibilities.
The idea echoes British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak's controversial plan to deport migrants to Rwanda, which had been criticized by Brussels.
Internal Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson judged in 2022 that this way of
“outsourcing asylum procedures (was) not a humane and dignified migration policy”
.
Agreement on migration policy reform
In a slightly different scenario, Italy signed an agreement with Albania in November aimed at relocating to this country the reception of migrants rescued at sea and the examination of their files.
More than a million asylum applications in the EU, mainly from Syrians and Afghans, were submitted in 2023, a record for seven years, according to the European asylum agency.
In this context, the European Union reached an agreement in December on a vast reform of its migration and asylum policy, intended to toughen up the fight against irregular immigration.
It provides for a strengthening of controls on migrant arrivals in the EU but also a mandatory solidarity mechanism between member countries in the care of asylum seekers.
The EPP meets Wednesday and Thursday in Bucharest to designate Ursula von der Leyen, 65, as its head of list for the European elections, scheduled for June 6 to 9.