The EPP takes firmer line on migration in policy pitch

Migrant return hubs, a stronger role for Frontex and toughening the criteria for migrants to be joined by their families are among stances touted by a new position paper on migration adopted by the European People’s Party (EPP) group this week, which would align the party with its more right-wing counterparts in the Parliament.

Under the title “Harnessing Migration: A Firm, Fair, and Future-Oriented Approach" the 9-point action plan "to halt uncontrolled migration” seen by Euronews is meant to define the group's stance on issues such as returns, fighting migrant smuggling and protection of external borders as well as the Schengen area, EPP German MEP Lena Düpont told Euronews. 

Among controversial measures it presents to reduce irregular migratory flows, it includes a pitch for the use of European funds to finance “physical infrastructure” at the EU’s external borders, breaking a long-standing taboo. 

In January Commissioner for Home Affairs Magnus Brunner left the door open to the use of EU money to finance barriers during a debate in the European Parliament.

The document says that fresh financial resources from the EU budget are needed to meet all needs in the area of border protection, as the EU should “shift the paradigm forward, from border security to border defence.”

The EPP is in favour of boosting the capacity of Frontex, converting it into a “fully operational European border agency equipped with state-of-the-art, advanced surveillance technologies such as drones, AI, and biometric systems.”

Frontex agents should also be deployed in African countries such as Senegal and Mauritania to prevent illegal migrants leaving, a possibility currently under discussion. Under discussion in what context?

The paper touts partnerships with third countries as very important means of stemming  irregular migration by encouraging them to prevent departures and implement effective means of readmitting nationals. Those who do not cooperate with the EU should not receive European funds or visas, the paper states.

Another controversial aspect concerns the Schengen Area. Several member states have temporarily reintroduced checks at their borders with other EU countries to deter so-called “secondary movements” of migrants, an idea also floated by incoming German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.

While the suspension of Schengen is generally criticized by the Commission, the EPP paper “recognises the right of member states to reintroduce temporary internal border controls as a last-resort measure, applied exceptionally.”

The largest group in the Parliament now also strongly endorses a “temporary derogation from the right to asylum when migrants are instrumentalized as weapons against the EU”, something already been done by prominent EPP member, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk.

The right to asylum is enshrined in EU law and in the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention, which was originally adopted to protect European refugees displaced by World War II.

“The EU must initiate a dialogue on adapting the Geneva Convention to the current world,” in order to address “the legitimate concerns of member states regarding security and migration management,” according to the document. 

Other ideas contained in the position paper include a crackdown on family reunification of refugees, which “should require demonstrated integration and financial stability prior to its authorization”, and the revision of the European Prosecutor’s mandate to include investigations into migrant smuggling.

Finally, the EPP’s position paper considers the Italy-Albania protocol adopted to process overseas asylum requests addressed to Italian authorities as “a first but decisive innovative step to dissuade illegal migration” aligning on this with the views of the European Conservatives and Reformists and Patriots for Europe, the two main right-wing groups in the Parliament.

MEP Düpont describes this document as part of a "push for a firm and fair asylum and migration policy that covers the most aspects possible", she told Euronews. "We will reach out and work with the other groups on the basis of that spirit".