With an action plan, the EU Commission wants to curb illegal migration and smuggling in North and West Africa. Commissioner Ylva Johansson announced today in Brussels that the new program contains proposals to combat smuggling, improve border management, return processes and legal routes into the EU. A total of 18 measures are planned.
Specifically, for example, more cooperation is planned between the EU border protection agency Frontex and Morocco, Mauritania and Senegal. If non-EU countries take back people who entered the country illegally, they should benefit more from the investments. In the future, people from Nigeria and Senegal could legally enter the country through certain programs if they have the appropriate qualifications.
On Thursday, in Luxembourg, EU interior ministers will discuss the reform of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS), which has been controversial for years. Among other things, this concerns the question of whether there should be preliminary checks on asylum applications at the EU’s external borders. The federal government is open to this, but wants to ensure that minors under 18 and families with children do not have to go through these procedures.