ONE STEP CLOSER TO ‘FORTRESS EUROPE’
SUMMIT ENDS WITH FOCUS ON BORDER PROTECTION, MERKEL WARNING OF FRACTURES
The European Union has embraced a new hardline agenda to defend its borders against illegal refugees as German Chancellor Angela Merkel warned that immigration could be the issue that splits the bloc.
Europe’s growing crop of populist leaders claimed victory for their “Fortress Europe” agenda, which saw the European Council summit in Brussels putting deterrence and the protection of EU borders at the forefront of its migration policy.
“Europe has many challenges but migration could end up determining Europe’s destiny,” Merkel told the German parliament before the summit saying it was a “make-orbreak” issue. Her own political future hangs in the balance following a rebellion against her softer migration policies by her Bavarian coalition partners.
The draft summit conclusions showed the German leader’s calls for an inclusive approach to migration playing second fiddle to the need to secure Europe’s borders and process illegal migrants offshore so they could be returned to their countries of origin.
Sebastian Kurz, the conservative Austrian chancellor who is in a coalition with the farright Freedom Party, said the shift was a victory for those states who have argued that the EU’S soft approach is creating “pull factors” for migration. “It seems as if today we will manage a shift in migration policy,” he said, adding that being rescued in the Mediterranean “must not automatically become a ticket” to central Europe.
Guiseppe Conte, the Italian prime minister, welcomed the proposals and pledged to do more to help Italy. “We hope these words will be translated into action,” he said. “Italy no longer has a need for words and statements, we need concrete acts.”
The Italian government stirred up tensions this month, sparring with France and Spain after refusing to allow migrant rescue ships safe harbour.
Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister who put up fences on Hungary’s border with Serbia in 2015 after Merkel threw open Germany’s border, said the change was a victory for the concerns of Europe’s voters.
“The main issue is ... about what the people believe what should be done,” he said before claiming the people wanted migrants to be sent back to where they came from. He added that the move heralded the start of a “new period when we try to reconstruct the European democracy.”
Orban’s claims of a victory for democracy will send shudders through liberal Europe, which believes that the Hungarian leader is using the consensus for a harder line over migration as a Trojan horse for a broader illiberal agenda.
Earlier, Orban said of migrants that no more should be let in, and those that were in “should be sent back.”
“The invasion should be stopped, and to stop the invasion means to have a strong border,” Orban said.
Donald Tusk, the European Council president, warned on the eve of the summit that failure to address the migration question risked handing ammunition to populists and those with “a tendency toward overt authoritarianism” — which was widely taken as a reference to the likes of Orban.
But Tusk said that the EU’S measures — which include beefing up Europe’s border force to 10,000, forging return deals with African states, and investigating setting up so-called hotspot camps in North Africa — were necessary to avoid something worse.
“Some may think I am too tough in my proposals on migration. But trust me, if we don’t agree on them, then you will see some really tough proposals from some really tough guys,” he said.
Emmanuel Macron, the French president, said: “We all face a simple choice: do we want national solutions or do we believe in European solutions and co-operation? For my part, I will defend European solutions.”
However, North African countries are refusing to set up screening or holding centres.
Khalid Zerouali, Morocco’s migration and border surveillance director, said, “That’s not a solution,” referring to so-called “regional disembarkation platforms”
Migrants are increasingly using Morocco as a jumpingoff point to Spain, either crossing the Strait of Gibraltar from Tangiers on rickety boats or even jet skis, or climbing high fences to reach two Spanish enclaves in Morocco, Melilla and Ceuta.
Meanwhile, Merkel faces a weekend ultimatum set by her Bavarian sister party to tighten borders, or risk the collapse of their threemonth-old coalition government.
Despite the clampdown on European borders, the migrant crisis has largely abated since 2015.
However, The New York Times points out that countries are still struggling to absorb the roughly 1.8 million sea arrivals since 2014.
IF WE DON’T AGREE ... THEN YOU WILL SEE SOME REALLY TOUGH PROPOSALS FROM SOME REALLY TOUGH GUYS.