What was previously unthinkable in the EU is taking shape. If a few years ago the possibility of creating deportation centers for migrants outside the community territory was flatly rejected, more and more leaders are pushing in that direction after the far-right Giorgia Meloni took the step of promoting them in Albania, despite the rejection of Italian justice. And the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, has opened the door wide by proposing to explore “paths of progress regarding the idea of developing return centers outside the EU.” The candidate for Commissioner for the Interior and Migration, Magnus Brunner, has taken up the gauntlet of the proposal, which is rejected by everyone from the liberals to the left, including social democrats and greens, although he has limited it to migrants whose asylum application has been denied.
“I understand that the concept of hub “return is only valid for people whose asylum application has been rejected,” said Brunner during the examination that aspiring commissioners undergo in the European Parliament and in which he needs the support of two thirds of the coordinators of the groups so that his appointment goes ahead in the first two votes and simple majority (more if it is what noes) in a hypothetical second vote.
“A center of this kind has to be managed by international organizations,” added the Austrian politician, who referred to the UN International Organization for Migration or UNHCR. Brunner has thus placed some limits on these detention centers outside the EU compared to those promoted by Meloni, who designed them to bring people rescued at sea to Albania so that they do not set foot on European soil.
In any case, Brunner has been open to studying all alternatives. “I have a receptive attitude to new ideas,” he defended before the Civil Liberties, Justice and Interior commission in which social democrats, liberals and the left asked him about these deportation centers. In fact, he made this statement in his response to Sumar MEP Estrella Galán, who warned that “following in Meloni’s footsteps to “lock up asylum seekers” would mean “widening the black hole that exists for migrants.” and refugees.”
“Making countries safe, carrying out summary arrests and expulsions, and abandoning migrants in the desert violates our Charter of Fundamental Rights,” Galán recalled after the candidate had said that the centers “would have to be based on adequate human standards.” The aspiring head of Home Affairs and Migration at the European Commission has reiterated on several occasions that compliance with human rights is “non-negotiable” and has opted for “clarifying” the cases in which there have been “abuses”, such as example by Frontex.
Despite the limits that Brunner has defended, his approach to the migration phenomenon follows the trail of the hardening that the European Union has opted for in recent times, and especially as a result of the rise of the extreme right, which has taken advantage of the audience to make xenophobic and Islamophobic proclamations.
“In order to manage migration, we need an approach that is fair but decisive. This means being able to decide who stays in the EU and who has to leave. We have to decide under what conditions someone arrives in Europe. We have to decide and not the traffickers. “Those who do not have a residence permit have to return,” defended the Austrian.
It has also committed to promoting “faster and simpler return processes” within the framework of the review of the returns directive in which many governments hope that the European Commission introduces the possibility of creating refugee deportation centers. Likewise, he has advocated imposing “clear cooperation obligations for people who have to return to their countries.” 17 European countries recently signed a document in which they advocated sanctioning non-cooperation in returns.
Source: www.eldiario.es
