EU summit

Member states call for faster deportations

The authority of EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen is called upon to "urgently present a new draft law".

(Bild: APA/AFP/JOHN THYS)

The 27 EU member states are calling for "decisive action at all levels to facilitate and speed up returns". The EU Commission is called upon to "urgently present a new draft law". This is the result of a joint resolution passed at the EU summit on Thursday.

There is a "clear task that we have to do much better, especially when it comes to returns", emphasized Federal Chancellor Karl Nehammer. The President of the Commission and all the states concerned were "highly motivated" that something had to be done here. Austria and a group of 18 allies across party lines agreed that the "issue of migration policy belongs at the heart of European politics", with topics such as deportations, external border protection and asylum procedures in safe third countries.

A Frontex official at the Albanian-Greek border

(Bild: AFP)

In the run-up to the summit, several states - above all Poland - wanted to remove the paragraph on migration from the document altogether and only have a "substantive discussion". Nehammer spoke of a "high level of solidarity with (Polish Prime Minister) Donald Tusk, on the part of the Commission and the member states". Poland wants to temporarily suspend the right to asylum for irregular migrants at the border with Belarus with a new law. "These are hybrid attacks by state actors", it said. The EU Commission is working with Poland on EU-compliant solutions, said Commission President Ursula von der Leyen at the closing press conference.

"Solidarity with member states that are confronted with this"
"Russia, Belarus or any other country must not be allowed to abuse our values, including the right to asylum, and undermine our democracies", reads the summit declaration. In it, the European Council expresses its "solidarity with the member states facing these challenges". The Council emphasized its "determination to protect the EU's external borders by all means and with respect for European and international law".

In addition to announcing the new proposal for a return directive, von der Leyen stated at the press conference that the concept of safe third countries would be reviewed. The partnerships with third countries were working: The number of illegal arrivals via the Mediterranean route had fallen by 64 percent.