N. Peter Kramer’s Weekly Column
The socialist government of Denmark, with the rotating EU Presidency this half-year, hopes to bring the memberstates into line for a strict EU return policy. It is the missing piece of the Asylum and Migration Act. Without this component the new EU asylum system risks becoming bogged down.
The problem is significant. Only twenty percent of rejected asylum seekers actually leave the EU. In March, European Commissioner Brunner launched proposals to make deportation easier and faster. He even wants to allow deportation centres in countries outside the EU. But the memberstates are stumbling over one element of the package : the mandatory recognition of each others return decisions.
Suppose Italy rejects an asylum seeker from Marocco and that person subsequently travels on to Germany. Germany has to adept automatically Italy’s decision and is responsible for arranging the expensive return trip to Marocco. And what when the asylum seeker goes for an appeal in Germany. Some memberstates want to block the possibility of a second appeal, others to put an end to rejected asylum seekers fleeing to another EU country, there are memberstates preferring a voluntarily arrangement, Austria deported already criminal asylum seekers to Syria, the Netherlands is opening asylum seekers centres galore, and so on.
Basically, it is the same EU picture as it ever was: nearly as many opinions as there are memberstates.
