EU countries have decided to work harder against irregular migration.
The leaders of the European Union (EU) countries agreed to work more on issues such as strengthening borders on irregular migration, increasing returns and increasing solidarity within the EU.
The special EU Summit, held in Brussels and partly attended by the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskiy, ended after the sessions on migration and economy.
EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and EU Council President Charles Michel held a press conference at the end of the summit meeting, which was planned for two days but ended in one day. Von der Leyen said that they have decided to speed up and finalize the work on the Migration and Asylum Agreement, which has been on the agenda for several years, but on which EU countries have not yet reached an agreement, in the current Swedish and next Spanish EU presidency.
Von der Leyen also stated that they decided to strengthen the borders to prevent irregular migration and announced that they would launch two pilot projects for this purpose. According to the information given by von der Leyen, infrastructure such as watchtowers, cameras, electronic border tracking technologies and vehicles will be increased. In addition to EU funds, national funds will also be used in their creation.
In addition, a pilot project will be launched to implement fast and fair asylum procedures and the repatriation procedures of those whose asylum applications are not accepted. This project will be supported by Frontex, Europol and the EU Asylum Agency. Efforts will be made to ensure the rapid return of those whose asylum application is not accepted. A return decision made in one EU country will also apply to other EU members. If an asylum seeker reapplies in another EU country, the application processes will not start from scratch.
Von der Leyen reported that EU leaders agreed to use the “safe country list” more. Accordingly, a common EU list will be created. Safe countries will be determined on the list. It will be foreseen that the applications of asylum seekers coming from these countries will not be accepted to a large extent.
In addition, the EU will work to increase cooperation with the countries of origin of irregular migrants. The EU will create incentives to increase returns to these countries. Finally, efforts will be made to effectively use the “voluntary solidarity” mechanism of EU countries.
Speaking about the new EU sanctions against Russia, von der Leyen stated that the package will target various products worth around 10 billion euros and an export ban will be imposed on them.
Von der Leyen pointed out that they examined in detail the technologies and spare parts used by the Russian army and analyzed the components of an Iranian UAV shot down by Ukraine, and explained that the components determined to come from the EU will be banned.
Emphasizing that they also evaluated the EU economy and competitiveness at the summit, von der Leyen said that he told the leaders about the new industry plan they had prepared to increase the competitiveness of Europe’s industry in the field of net zero emissions.
Von der Leyen recalled that the plan includes loosening EU public support rules, redirecting existing EU funds, accelerating approvals for green projects, channeling employee skills to these areas, and signing new trade agreements to ensure supply security for critical raw materials.
Noting that the EU Commission will prepare concrete legislative proposals by mid-March, von der Leyen added that the issue will be re-evaluated at the next summit.