LONDON: The European Union may adopt a “carrot and stick” approach to return migrants to non-EU countries and stop illegal immigration, applying economic and diplomatic pressure on other countries to stem the flow of people to Europe. Could be, the leaked documents suggest.
According to the UN refugee agency, EU countries will receive 159,410 people in the Mediterranean alone in 2022, while 179,600 people were given notices to leave EU member states for their home countries. Overall, just 33,600 did so.
Pressure is building in Europe, especially in Sweden, which took in more refugees per capita than any EU state during the 2015 migrant crisis and which took over the rotating EU presidency this month, with people from Africa, the Middle East and Asia to find a way to replace the one-way traffic.
A draft communique ahead of a meeting of 27 EU leaders in Brussels next month, seen by The Guardian, suggested the EU could make aid payments for the readiness of non-EU states to protect their citizens in the future. I can accept being sent home. “To assess ways to reduce illegal migration by all relevant EU policies, tools and instruments including development, trade and visas as well as opportunities for legal migration.”
A meeting of interior ministers in the Swedish capital Stockholm this week will also look at ways to reform Europe’s policies on migration, including focusing on other European, non-EU states, with Serbia on the agenda. Also provide migration facility.
Serbia, which currently does not require visas for many countries from which migrants travel, is a “hub for illegal migration” for the EU, according to a cross-party group of Dutch lawmakers in December.
The intervention by Dutch politicians was aimed at persuading Brussels to pressure the Balkan state, which is a candidate for EU membership, to change its visa policy to match that of its EU neighbors or reject its application. to take risks.
This week, the Dutch government called on the European Commission to use all the means at its disposal to repatriate migrants and failed asylum seekers, including using trade agreements and development aid.
Meanwhile, Lars Danielsson, Sweden’s ambassador to the European Union, called for a “carrot and stick” approach to migration in Europe.
Speaking to reporters recently, he said: “Have we not come to a time where we need to use both the carrot and the stick more efficiently than we do now? The carrot is always handy, but we Need to look even more carefully… at your sticks.”
However, there are fears that using development aid as a weapon to get other countries to comply with the EU’s wishes could have a detrimental effect on the countries most in need of aid, and where many migrants live. The EU wants to repatriate Poverty, instability and other factors.
Avelian van Romberg, head of Oxfam’s EU office, told The Guardian: “The EU’s obsessive focus on laying out its migration responsibilities is not in line with their constant statements of equal partnership with non-EU countries. Instead , the European Union bullies them to meet their narrow political objectives.
“Aid is meant to help people out of poverty, not stop migration.”