While the EU Commission and Italy welcome the asylum compromise, the plans are met with resistance in Hungary and Poland. Harsh criticism has also come from aid organizations – they speak of a “breaking of a human rights taboo”.
The EU interior ministers’ compromise on asylum has met with criticism in Europe, but also with praise. The governments in Poland and Hungary in particular reject the planned solidarity mechanism for the mandatory admission of refugees. Poland’s Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki announced resistance to it. “As long as there is the PiS government, we will not allow any migration quotas, quotas for refugees from Africa, from the Middle East, for Arabs, Muslims or whoever, to be imposed on us,” he said.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban described the EU compromise as “unacceptable”. Brussels is abusing its power, he explained on Facebook. “They want to move the migrants to Hungary by force. That is unacceptable, they want to turn Hungary into a migrant country by force.”
Italy: “An important day”
The Italian government, on the other hand, was satisfied. At the meeting of EU interior ministers, Italy managed to maintain its position and achieve a “consensus on all its proposals,” Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi told the Corriere della Sera newspaper. “We’re happy. It’s an important day and it’s a start.”
In particular, Italy has averted first-arrival countries being paid to keep irregular migrants on their territory, he said. Italy didn’t accept that because it had its dignity as a “founding member of the Union”. The government therefore supports the mechanism of compensation payments. “Italy will not be Europe’s reception center.”
“Misanthropic Reform”
Human rights and aid organizations sharply criticized the EU plans. The Alliance Seebrücke spoke of an “inhumane reform of the European asylum system”. It is about the “strictest asylum reforms in decades”.
The Secretary General of Amnesty International Germany, Markus N. Beeko, criticized the tightening as a license for human rights violations. It is an agreement at the expense of human rights and the people who need protection the most in the world. “Amnesty International is stunned that the federal government can celebrate yesterday’s agreement as a ‘political breakthrough’.” It was “not a breakthrough, but a breach of human rights taboos, a disregard for the constitutional mandate and a broken promise of the coalition agreement,” said Beeko.
The head of the Europe department at Pro Asyl, Karl Kopp, spoke to the editorial network Germany of a historical mistake: “The traffic light accepts that human rights and the rule of law are sold out.” She didn’t push through a red line and accepted everything. In doing so, “a frontal attack on the rule of law and refugee law was launched,” according to the organization.
From the point of view of the aid organization Doctors Without Borders Germany, the reform will have catastrophic consequences for people in need of protection. “We are appalled by the approval of the federal government,” said Deputy Chair Parnian Parvanta. “The suffering of people fleeing will continue to worsen as a result of the agreement in Luxembourg.”
Praise from EPP boss Weber
After difficult negotiations in Luxembourg, the interior ministers had by and large approved a compromise on Thursday evening to end the long-standing asylum dispute. The reform envisages a tightening of the asylum law and, for the first time, procedures at the EU’s external borders, but also a distribution of migrants among the EU states. Countries that refuse to take in migrants are to pay a fine for each migrant into a fund managed by Brussels.
The chairman of the European People’s Party (EPP), Manfred Weber, also praised the asylum compromise. “If we succeed in creating a European legal situation that really works, then the numbers (of refugees) will decrease significantly,” he said BR. For anyone trying to come to Europe illegally, “the end will be at the external border” in the future. However, not all problems have been solved. Solutions with neighboring countries are also needed. “We now need an agreement with Tunisia for this summer so that we can get the numbers under control,” said Weber. The basic principle “We want to help” is beyond question. Weber called for a distinction to be made between those who were really persecuted and those who had no reason to stay.
Von der Leyen speaks of “milestone”
Shortly after the agreement, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen spoke on Twitter. She congratulated Interior Commissioner Ylva Johansson and the Swedish Presidency on a “major milestone”.
MEP Jan-Christof Oetjen from the FDP was also satisfied: “Germany showed itself to be flexible at the migration summit and that finally made it possible for us to have a position on the asylum and migration pact.” The federal government actually wanted to exempt families with children from the planned asylum procedures at the EU’s external borders, but the FDP saw this demand as endangering an agreement. Only a log note now states that she wants to continue to advocate for this exception.
Criticism from the Greens and the Left in Brussels
As in Germany, there was sharp criticism from the Greens in Brussels. Rasmus Andresen, spokesman for the German Greens, said it was shameful that Interior Minister Nancy Faeser, with the approval of the traffic light coalition, agreed to this proposal. His party colleague Eric Marquardt spoke of populist sham solutions. Martin Schirdewan from the left criticizes the compromise just as clearly – the right to asylum is being hollowed out beyond recognition, he said:
With the border procedures, children will also be housed in prison-like camps in the future. Instead of never Moria again, the Greens suddenly say – many Morias. And the crocodile tears of the Greens, but also the SPD, this set up game is just hypocritical.
For a long time, the federal government had taken a special path in Europe and thus isolated Germany, said the migration policy spokeswoman for the CDU/CSU in the European Parliament, Lena Dupont. Nevertheless, she welcomed the fact that the member states were able to agree on a position: “If you look at the history of the European asylum and migration policy that has so far been lacking – the last few years, decades almost of discussion – and above all the changed starting position Over the past two or three years, it’s an important step forward.”
The next step is now the negotiations between the member states and the European Parliament. They still have to come to an agreement before the reform of asylum policy is final. Critics of yesterday’s decision, who expect changes, are counting on the talks.
With information from Astrid Corall, ARD studio Brussels