While the EU Commission and Italy welcome the asylum deal, the plans are met with resistance in Hungary and Poland. Harsh criticisms have also come from aid organizations – they speak of a “breaking of a human rights taboo”.
The EU interior ministers’ pledge on asylum has drawn criticism across Europe, but also praise. The governments of Poland and Hungary, in particular, reject the planned solidarity mechanism for the mandatory admission of refugees. Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced resistance to it. “As long as the PiS government exists, we will not allow them to impose migratory quotas on us, quotas for refugees from Africa, the Middle East, Arabs, Muslims or anyone else,” he said.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban described the EU’s compromise as “unacceptable”. Brussels is abusing its power, he explained on Facebook. “They want to take migrants to Hungary by force. This is unacceptable, they want to turn Hungary into a country of migrants by force.”
Italy: “An important day”
The Italian government, on the other hand, was satisfied. At the meeting of EU interior ministers, Italy managed to maintain its position and reach a “consensus on all its proposals”, Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi told the Corriere della Sera newspaper. “We’re happy. It’s an important day and it’s a start.”
In particular, Italy avoided paying first-comers to keep irregular migrants on its territory, he said. Italy did not accept because it had its dignity as a “founding member of the Union”. The government therefore supports the compensation payment mechanism. “Italy will not be the receiving center of Europe.”
“Misanthropic Reform”
Human rights and humanitarian aid organizations have sharply criticized the EU’s plans. Alliance Seebrücke spoke of an “inhumane reform of the European asylum system”. These are “the toughest asylum reforms in decades”.
Amnesty International Germany Secretary General Markus N. Beeko criticized the tightening as a license for human rights violations. It is a deal at the expense of human rights and the people most in need of protection in the world. “Amnesty International is surprised that the federal government can celebrate yesterday’s agreement as a ‘political breakthrough’.” It was “not a breakthrough, but a violation of human rights taboos, a breach of the constitutional mandate and a broken promise of the coalition agreement,” Beeko said.
The head of Pro Asyl’s Europe department, Karl Kopp, spoke to the editorial network Germany about a historic error: “The traffic light accepts that human rights and the rule of law are sold out”. She didn’t cross the red line and accepted everything. In doing so, “a frontal attack on the rule of law and refugee law was launched”, according to the organization.
From the point of view of the German humanitarian organization Médecins Sans Frontières, the reform will have catastrophic consequences for people in need of protection. “We are shocked by the federal government’s approval,” said Vice President Parnian Parvanta. “The suffering of people fleeing will continue to worsen as a result of the Luxembourg deal.”
Praise from EPP chief Weber
After difficult negotiations in Luxembourg, interior ministers generally approved a deal late on Thursday to end the long-running dispute over asylum. The reform foresees a tightening of the asylum law and, for the first time, procedures at the EU’s external borders, but also a distribution of migrants between EU states. Countries that refuse to receive migrants must pay a fine for each migrant to a fund managed by Brussels.
European People’s Party (EPP) President Manfred Weber also praised the asylum commitment. “If we manage to create a European legal situation that really works, the number (of refugees) will decrease significantly,” he told BR. For anyone trying to enter Europe illegally, “the end will be at the external border” in the future. However, not all issues have been resolved. Solutions with neighboring countries are also needed. “Now we need a deal with Tunisia for this summer so we can get the numbers under control,” Weber said. The basic principle “We want to help” is out of the question. Weber asked that a distinction be made between those who were really persecuted and those who had no reason to stay.
Von der Leyen speaks of “milestone”
Shortly after the deal, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke on Twitter. She congratulated Home Commissioner Ylva Johansson and the Swedish Presidency on a “major milestone”.
MEP Jan-Christof Oetjen of the FDP was also pleased: “Germany was flexible at the migration summit and that finally allowed us to have a position on the asylum and migration pact.” Indeed, the federal government wanted to exempt families with children from planned asylum procedures at the EU’s external borders, but the FDP saw this requirement as a threat to a deal. Only a log note now states that she wants to continue to uphold this exception.
Criticism from the Greens and the Left in Brussels
As in Germany, there was sharp criticism from the Greens in Brussels. Rasmus Andresen, spokesman for the German Greens, said it was disgraceful that Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, with the approval of the traffic light coalition, agreed to this proposal. His party colleague, Eric Marquardt, spoke of bogus populist solutions. Martin Schirdewan, from the left, criticizes the compromise with equal clarity – the right to asylum is being deflated beyond recognition, he said:
With border procedures, children will also be housed in prison-like camps in the future. Instead of never again Moria, the Greens suddenly say – many Moria. And the crocodile tears of the Greens, but also of the SPD, this weaponized game is simply hypocritical.
For a long time, the federal government took a special path in Europe and thus isolated Germany, said CDU/CSU immigration policy spokeswoman in the European Parliament, Lena Dupont. However, she welcomed the fact that member states had reached agreement on a position: “If you look at the history of European asylum and migration policy which until now has been lacking – the last few years, almost decades of discussion – and above all, the starting position changed in the last two or three years, is an important step forward.”
The next step is now negotiations between member states and the European Parliament. They still need to reach an agreement before the asylum policy reform is finalized. Critics of yesterday’s decision, who expect changes, are counting on negotiations.
With input from Astrid Corrall, ARD Brussels studio