On 17 October, in the meeting of the European Council EU leaders issued a tough verdict. The European Commission agreed to downgrade the threshold for a country to be considered “safe”, to work on the “return hubs” model proposed by the Hungarian Presidency, and to reform the Return Directive and explicitly allow countries to invoke security concerns to close their external borders, which represents a win for Tusk’s earlier demands. See Council’s conclusions on migration here.
On 16 October, the EU announced a €30 million package for Senegal to curb irregular migration and human trafficking and smuggling.
On 14 October, a leaked document from the Council dated July revealed that neither Egypt nor Tunisia is interested in reaching an agreement on intensified police cooperation nor issuing a joint statement on migration. Relations with Libya, however, are progressing.
On 14 October, Ursula von der Leyen sent a letter to EU leaders on migration. She proposed 10 points to focus on, including the possibility of outsourcing asylum applications, such as the Albania-Italy deal; continuing to build partnerships with third countries, such as Tunisia and Libya; reforming return policies; and exploring the idea of a return hub. The President also mentioned exploring the conditions for the return of Syrians in Syria.
On 12 October, the Polish Prime Minister announced that he wanted to suspend the possibility for people crossing the border from Belarus to apply for asylum in Poland.
On 10 October, the interior ministers of the 27 EU countries met in Luxembourg and discussed the possibility of introducing deportation hubs in third countries, as the EU’s migration policy gets tougher and the will to accelerate deportations growths.
On 8 October, Viktor Orbán and Ursula von der Leyen engaged in a tense debate in the European Parliament, notably on the issue of migration. The Hungarian president criticised the European Commission president’s poor management of migration policy and reiterated his proposal to completely outsource asylum applications, allowing only those who have been granted refugee status to enter Europe.
On 8 October, Yvla Johansson, Commissioner for Home Affairs, called for the protection of the EU’s external borders, the application of the new Schengen Borders Code and the full implementation of the Pact on Migration and Asylum during the EU Parliament Plenary.
On 7 October, InfoMigrants revealed that 17 countries have signed a letter to the European Commission calling for stricter asylum policies. The letter proposes the introduction of a new law explicitly stating that a government can detain an irregular migrant who poses a risk to national security, that migrants’ cases should be managed by all countries using the same computer software to make it easier to trace people, and that migrants should cooperate with the authorities.
On 7 October, the Hungarian government sent a letter to Ylva Johansson asking once again for the possibility to opt out of the EU’s asylum rules.
On 3 October, StateWatch revealed that the Hungarian Council Presidency has been disseminating a document outlining the criteria for reviewing the status of international protection beneficiaries and the procedures for handling individuals whose asylum applications have been rejected but who are unable to be deported.
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