European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson insisted more rejected asylum seekers must reach their countries, as EU capitals push for a tougher approach in the face of rising irregular migration.
“We can make significant progress to increase the number of returns and make it more effective and faster,” Johansson told an informal meeting of EU interior ministers in Stockholm.
He said reception capacity is overloaded, with three times more asylum applications than irregular arrivals. And according to the Swedish commissioner, many applicants don’t really need international protection.
“So I very much welcome that the Swedish president will focus on the returnees,” she said. “And we don’t need to wait for the agreement to be legislated to do so,” she said, referring to the longstanding migration agreement in the works.
“We need to act as a team Europe” to put pressure on third countries and better digitalize return procedures, he said, echoing recommendations in a Recent Commission Draft Scheme,
Pointing the finger at national governments, he also indicated that although Frontex, the EU’s border control agency, is “very well equipped to support our returnees, only five member states use it.” He cited statistics that EU capitals reach countries of origin only in 16 percent of cases.
Today’s meeting is expected to focus on measures that will ensure that each EU member state regularly provides relevant data on returns to Frontex by the end of each yearWith the aim of establishing a digitized process in all Member States as soon as possible.
Earlier this week, the European Commission presented its plan speed up the return of migrants For countries outside the European Union.
EU country migration services requested that 342,100 people be turned away in 2021, the most recent year for which complete data is available. Only 24 percent of them had returned to a country outside the bloc in 2021 eurostat,
The rising number of arrivals has put the explosive topic back on the EU agenda, with some leaders – such as Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehmer – publicly calling on the EU to erect a €2 billion fence along Turkey’s border with Bulgaria. are calling, where an increasing number of migrants are crossing into the EU.
Johansson fought against pressure from member states such as Austria to use EU funds to build up border control infrastructure. On fencing, Commissioner Johansson reiterated the position of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen: “There is no money in the EU budget for this. So if we spend money on walls and fences, there is money for other things.” Will not happen.
in an interview with PoliticalIn 2010, Manfred Weber, leader of the European People’s Party, called for a commission to explore the possibility of building a fence. “The EU Commission should drop its resistance to providing EU funds for this. This has been discussed for a long time… We expect the commission to move forward on this,” said the German politician.
Migration is a major issue on the agenda of the next European Council in Brussels early february,