A German-Franco-led summit on Friday saw six nations demand that the European Union as a whole enact stricter regulations on asylum and step up border controls, in an apparent departure from the open borders orthodoxy that has dominated over the past decade.
Gathering at the Zugspitze peak of the Bavarian Alps, the interior ministers of Germany, France, Poland, Denmark, Austria, and the Czech Republic agreed that the Common European Asylum System (CEAS) must become more stringent before it comes into force in 2026.
The Western European border ministers also agreed, according to German broadcaster NTV, that deportations must be increased, more effort is needed to confront people smuggling groups, and the external borders of the EU need more protection against illegal and adversarial governments like Russia and Belarus from exploiting their openness to wage hybrid warfare through migration.
Additionally, they stated that Brussels should consider establishing migrant return centres in third-party countries, as has been attempted by Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Albania. However, this effort has so far been mired in legal battles in Rome and will likely hinge on the approval of the European Court of Justice in Strasbourg.
European Commissioner for Migration Markus Brunner, who also joined the Zugspitze summit, said that he plans to use “visas, trade or economic cooperation” to coerce migrant hotspot countries that fail to cooperate in stemming the flow of illegals into Europe.
Hosting the meeting, German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said that the meeting demonstrated “a visible signal of unity, determination and shared commitment” to confronting illegal immigration and to show that Germany, under the recently installed government of Chancellor Friedrich Merz, is now driving the train, rather than being driven by it.
It came as Dobrindt organised the German government’s first deportation flight to Afghanistan since coming to power, and the second since Berlin decreed that the Taliban-run country was safe for migrants to be returned to last year.
The German interior minister disclosed that 81 “serious criminals” were deported to Afghanistan, and said that there are also plans to resume repatriation flights to Syria now that the civil war has ended.
Interior Minister Gerhard Karner of Austria, which has already begun sending migrants back to Syria, said that the meeting in Bavaria showed that “finally getting tougher on asylum policy issues.”
While it remains to be seen if Brussels will be swayed to crack down on migration, the tone and message to come out of Zugspitze summit marks a departure from Western Europe on the issue, most notably from Germany, which under the likes of former Chancellor Angela Merkel opened the gates to millions of foreigners mostly from the Middle East and Africa in 2015.
French Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau, who represents the migration-critical wing of President Macron’s government in Paris, acknowledged that the apparent shift in tone was partly due to the growing popularity of so-called “far-right” anti-mass migration parties across Europe.
“If we do not respond to democratic expectations more firmly, we add kerosene to the far-right threat,” Retailleau told French daily Le Figaro on the sidelines of the meeting.
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