Good morning,
Asylum policy at the EU level continues to grind away at working groups within the Council, representing member states. The secrecy there leaves little scope when it comes to revealing what exactly is being discussed.
But sometimes not-so-insignificant details begin to emerge. Take the Asylum Working Party. It is steadily advancing proposals that would allow asylum seekers to be shipped off to places they may never have even set foot in.
The so-called "safe third country" concept gives member states the authority to dismiss an asylum claim outright and outsource it elsewhere, even if the new host country does not fully respect the 1951 Refugee Convention. Valid cases are brushed aside. Connections to the destination country are irrelevant.
France and Spain oppose the concept for various reasons. And while none of this is new, given it was proposed earlier this year, the Asylum Working Party is seeking a legal workaround on whether an asylum request must actually be filed in the third country, or only if the applicant chooses to do so.
That may sound like an insignificant detail.
But it opens up the possibility of sending someone to a country without a guarantee their claim will ever be examined. It could also potentially pave the way to illegal pushbacks with an EU stamp of approval.
Such talks are part of other legal questions that, when taken together, point to a further erosion of asylum rights and an offshoring of European responsibilities on international protection.
Looming large is the European Commission's return regulation, also proposed earlier this year, that seeks to increase deportations of rejected asylum seekers. This entails two-year prison sentences, widespread surveillance, and a potential crackdown on homeless asylum seekers.
The Danish EU presidency has already rewritten large parts of the text as part of an initial compromise. Now, the Working Party on Integration, Migration and Expulsion (IMEX) is locked in negotiations, with two more meetings scheduled and another compromise draft looming.
Expect tougher language, and expect further erosion of Europe’s asylum commitments dressed up as “pragmatism.”
- Nikolaj Nielsen, home affairs editor
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