‘Liberal’ Sweden to fly home 80,000 asylum seekers
SWEDEN will deport up to 80,000 rejected asylum seekers after ruling that nearly half of those arriving there were economic migrants rather than genuine refugees.
The country has been one of the most welcoming in europe to migrants but will now charter planes to remove thousands of the arrivals as part of a tough new stance.
Of the 163,000 who applied for asylum last year, 45 per cent of claims were rejected. migrants will be asked to return to their home countries and if they refuse, will be forcibly removed.
Swedish interior minister anders Ygeman
‘Returns backed up by force’
said the mass expulsions would require specially chartered aircraft and be staggered over several years.
‘We are talking about 60,000 people but the number could climb to 80,000,’ he said. ‘The first step will be to go with voluntary return, and to create the best conditions for that. But if that doesn’t work, we will need to have returns backed up by force.’
Of the 13,000 migrants sent back from Sweden last year, 10,000 went voluntarily and 3,000 were forcibly deported.
Sweden is seeking return agreements with countries such as afghanistan and morocco. it is looking to set up deals with other eU countries such as Germany to coordinate flights to return the asylum seekers.
Sweden will attempt to deport failed asylum seekers to their country of origin or the state they arrived in when they entered the european Union.
Under the Dublin regulation refugees must claim asylum in the first safe country they arrive in, such as Greece or italy.
as part of its crackdown, Sweden will also make it more difficult for businesses to hire immigrants without proper documents so those not given asylum have less incentive to stay.
Finland last night said it expected to expel 20,000 of the 32,000 asylum seekers it received last year, while Germany agreed on a new law to tighten rules for asylum seekers.
Chancellor angela merkel, who has been accused of making the crisis worse by announcing last august that she would welcome all Syrian refugees, bowed to pressure and agreed to speed up deportations.
Her government will also make it more difficult for refugees already in Germany to bring their families. They will now have to wait two years.
The netherlands, which holds