European countries would do well to keep an eye on events in Belgium, where controversy remains over the Belgian government’s decision to temporarily exclude single male asylum seekers from the reception system, which has been under pressure for some time as the country has been demanding a different distribution between EU states for months. The decision is made by the Minister for Asylum and Migration. Nicole deMoor. “I don’t want to stay behind the facts and have therefore decided to reserve all available places for families with children,” he said, explaining that the increase in the number of applicants is putting a strain on the nationwide reception network, which has already been expanded by 9,000 places a year ago and will continue to do so at least not expanded further for the time being. There are more than 2,000 single men on the waiting list Alain Maron, Minister of the Government of the Brussels-Capital Region, criticized the decision as “leading to an increase in homelessness”. Almost paradoxically, however, another part of politics is picking up on the appeal of the production system, wanting to make it easier to release films Work permits also for illegal immigrants, for those who have no right of residence or documents.
In 2022, Belgium received approx 32,000 questions of asylum in the first instance, while in 2021 there were 19,000. But applications are increasing across Europe, with an increase of 26% in the first six months compared to the same period in 2022. Last year alone Germany it received 217,000 and counting Italy there were 77 thousand. But what counts, and should also count in Brussels, is the number of inquiries in relation to the population. In 2022, the average rate in the Union was 1,923 Asylum applications per million inhabitants. Italy, for example, is consistently below average 1,308 Questions per million population. On the contrary, Belgium, with its 11.5 million inhabitants, has a quota of 2,791 Questions per million. Figures that lead Minister de Moor to say he finds it “hard to hear that our country is not living up to its commitments”. If all European countries did their part, we wouldn’t be in this situation.” In other words, it calls for countries that are below the EU average, such as Italy, to accept larger numbers of applicants and refugees.
But the argument hasn’t quelled controversy over his recent decision. Second Kati Verstrepen, president of the League for Human Rights, said the fact that the reception crisis is long-standing “does not make it any less serious.” The Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe, Dunja Mijatovic, actually spoke of “structural deficiencies in reception in Belgium” and called on the Belgian authorities to “implement rapid measures and lasting solutions and ensure the availability of accommodation for all applicants for international protection, including single men”. From a legal perspective, Belgium is obliged to admit asylum seekers and refugees on the basis of national, Community and international law. In a recent article Celia Groothedde the Greens and the political scientists Dirk Verhofstadt They defined the measure as “a violation of Article 14 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which prohibits discrimination based on sex.” Even temporaryness is not a mitigating factor: “It actually means that people are aware of the illegality of the measure, but continue to accept it, for a short or long period of time, a blatant impairment of the rule of law.”
Last June 29th Court of Brussels reiterated that Belgium is violating the Civil Code by not guaranteeing asylum seekers the right to asylum and reception and by failing to enforce penalties. With its decision, the court responds to the complaint from several organizations that the reception system managed by the Federal Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (Fedasil) has been complete for two years saturated Preventing the establishment of persons applying for international protection. And not only that: since October 2021, the registration of applications has also been intermittent, effectively preventing access to admission and, according to the organizations, the situation has not improved despite an appeal to court. The allegations are aimed precisely at Minister de Moor, who “has always refused to pay the fines in the face of thousands of convictions against the Belgian asylum and reception system”.
It’s not just the admissions crisis, however. In Belgium the labor problem appears to be just as serious and the Walloon President, Elio Di Rupotogether with the region’s labor minister, Christie Morealethey wrote to the Prime Minister Alexander De Croo calls for exemptions from residence permit laws for undocumented people with skills that the Belgian production system finds difficult to find on the market. The request comes directly from unions and employers who want a shortcut to allow refugees, but also people without permission or papers, access to the labor market. According to demographic forecasts, in 15 years Wallonia will have 50,000 fewer active workers than today. The proposal has already entered the political debate and been adopted by the party’s progressives Ecologically. But the Prime Minister limited himself to buying time and postponing the demographic question, like many other European countries facing the same problem. “Let’s activate our unemployed people first,” he said. “And then we’ll see if we need other sources of work.”