Reactions to EU asylum reform: criticism of Luxembourg, praise of Hungary



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Repatriation sponsorships instead of hosting refugees: This is one of the proposals for EU asylum reform. Luxembourg’s diplomatic chief, Asselborn, criticizes and says that states could “buy into” him. On the other hand, the accolades come from Hungary.

The EU Commission’s plans to reform the European asylum system are the subject of harsh criticism in Luxembourg. Chancellor Jean Asselborn told “Handelsblatt” that these proposals do not make a “fair migration policy” possible in Europe. His criticism relates to the proposed “return sponsorships”, the option for those countries that do not want to accept refugees. According to plans, it should help with deportations.

Asselborn said these states should have the opportunity to “buy themselves free” to accept refugees. In his opinion, this is “a problem”. Meanwhile, only half a dozen of the EU states are even willing to accept immigrants. Therefore, the pressure on member states with external EU borders such as Greece, Italy, Malta and Spain is increasing. “A fair migration policy in Europe cannot work this way. We have to talk about it,” said Luxembourg’s chief diplomat. Refugee arrival countries would demand greater solidarity, Asselborn said.

Asselborn: “We need an emergency system”

Additional mechanisms are needed “so that not just six EU countries host refugees at the end of the day,” said Luxembourg’s foreign minister. In practice, something must be done so that refugees are not trapped at the EU’s external borders for months, as on the island of Lesbos. What is needed is a kind of “emergency system” that includes as many Member States as possible when accepting migrants.

Meanwhile, the Hungarian ambassador to Germany said he saw opportunities for the implementation of the Commission’s proposals. The Budapest government warmly welcomes the fact that Commissioner Ursula von der Leyen “expressly accepts the different perspectives on asylum and migration”, said Ambassador Peter Györkös of the “Stuttgarter Zeitung” and the “Stuttgarter Nachrichten”.

Hungary welcomes the “end of moral arrogance”

Until now, there has been “moral arrogance towards countries that” want to help in another way. “A new start in European asylum policy can only be successful if member states can agree on one point, emphasized the ambassador of Hungary: “European solidarity is not synonymous with a compulsory assignment of migrants”.

However, Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban had earlier said at a joint press conference with the heads of government of Poland and the Czech Republic in Brussels that, in his opinion, the Commission’s proposals “were not a breakthrough. “. Above all, he criticized the fact that there are still plans to distribute refugees through quotas in the EU, but that there are no plans for reception camps outside the European Union.

Seehofer: the suggestion is “a good base”

In Germany, reactions to the Commission’s proposal had previously been mixed. Federal Interior Minister Horst Seehofer (CSU) called it a “good base.” On the other hand, there was strong criticism from the Left Party. The leader of the Thuringian parliamentary group, Susanne Hennig-Wellsow, explained that the plans only served for “foreclosure, deterrence” and “deportation”.

The charge that the plans would weaken the human right to asylum was rejected by the Vice President of the EU Commission, Margaritis Schinas. “I categorically reject the argument that our proposal would violate the Geneva Convention on Human Rights. We will never fail to comply with our international obligations,” he said according to the “Welt” newspaper at a ceremony for the newspaper in Vienna. Schinas called the Commission’s proposal a “landing zone for a possible compromise” between the EU states. “In 2016 we went through a debate that traumatized Europe.”

Those who do not want to foster can help with deportation.

The concept unveiled by the EU Commission on Wednesday provides for speedy asylum procedures at the external borders and more deportations. Member states should not be obliged to host refugees to relieve other EU countries, but can help with deportations. For this, the commission offers the assumption of “return sponsorships”.

Since the refugee crisis of 2015, attempts to reform Europe’s asylum system have repeatedly failed. The stumbling block has always been the distribution of refugees to other EU countries in order to relieve countries of arrival such as Italy or Greece at the external borders. Eastern European countries like Hungary and Poland categorically refuse to accept immigrants.



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