Failed asylum seekers ‘should be sent to bleak camps outside the EU’
That’s the hardline plan drawn up by Austria and Denmark
FAILED asylum seekers could be sent to bleak holding camps outside the EU under plans drawn up to prevent another mass migration crisis.
Austria and Denmark believe a hardline approach is needed to stop economic migrants making perilous journeys to Europe in such huge numbers.
With EU talks on migration plagued by in-fighting, leaders in the two countries are pushing ahead with their own plan to set up camps outside the bloc.
Danish prime minister Lars Rasmussen said the camp should be somewhere ‘not particularly attractive’ to prevent migrants from travelling further into Europe.
The move is an attempt to stop those not entitled to refugee protection from ‘asylum shopping’ – when migrants apply for protection in several EU countries.
Mr Rasmussen said: ‘It [the camp] would be in a country that isn’t on the migrants’ or the human traffickers’ list of preferred destinations.
‘Based on my discussions with other European leaders … it is my expectation that we will be able to take the first step this year.’
A country has not yet been chosen but officials said the initial plan could involve a deal being struck with a state in the west Balkans, such as Albania or Macedonia.
Austrian chancellor Sebastian Kurz, who has a strong anti-immigration stance, said: ‘We suggested a long time ago that it would make sense to offer protection outside of the European Union, where [migrants] get protection where it is necessary but do not have the opportunity to pick the best system in Europe.’
Mr Kurz, 31, has made overhauling the bloc’s approach to immigration a priority, with Vienna taking over the EU’s influential revolving presidency next month.
Of the camp plans, he said: ‘It’s a national project we share with Denmark and other states.’
Both Germany and the Netherlands were said to have shown interest in the plans but are no longer taking part in discussions.
Mr Kurz outlined his broader approach to immigration to Jean-Claude Juncker during a meeting in Brussels on Wednesday, in which the EU chief also tentatively backed the camp plan.
Mr Juncker said: ‘I believe the defence against illegal immigration is a European as well as national matter. It is not up to me to be against it.’
However, officials will want to ensure the plan abides by EU asylum laws. A European Commission spokesman said: ‘We can’t speculate on whether it’s legal or not without knowing details.’ The provisional plan would target asylum seekers who are refused protection but can currently remain in a country for years while potential deportation is arranged.
An EU diplomat last night described the idea as ‘magical thinking’ and said it would require changes to EU asylum rules.
It comes as EU countries are locked in a bitter row over how to change the bloc’s regulations on asylum.
Angela Merkel has warned that the EU’s future will be placed in jeopardy if countries do not solve the deepening divisions. ‘If we are unable to come up with a common response to migration challenges the very foundations of the EU will be at stake,’ the German chancellor said.
She also insisted that ‘action is really needed’ if the bloc wants to prevent a repeat of the 2015 migration crisis.
The row has been fuelled by warnings from Italy’s new government that it will break away from the Brussels rulebook if it continues to be ‘abandoned’. Its leaders are angry that other EU member states, such as Hungary and Poland, have reneged on promises to rehome some of the 600,000 migrants who have arrived from Africa in recent years. The UK is exempt from the scheme. Brussels proposals to change the rules after two years of talks were branded ‘dead’ earlier this week. EU leaders are poised to hold crunch talks on the subject at a summit later this month.