EU irregular immigration decision

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 extraordinary EU Summit, held in Brussels and partly attended by the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskiy, ended after sessions on migration and the 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 scheduled 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 the EU countries have not yet reached an agreement, in the current Swedish and the next. Spanish Presidency of the EU.

Von der Leyen also stated that they decided to strengthen the borders to prevent irregular migration and announced that he would launch two pilot projects for this purpose. According to the information provided by von der Leyen, infrastructure such as watchtowers, cameras, electronic border and vehicle tracking technologies will be increased. In addition to EU funds, national funds will also be used in its creation.

In addition, a pilot project will be launched to implement fast and fair asylum procedures and repatriation procedures for those whose asylum applications are not accepted. This project will be supported by Frontex, Europol and the EU Agency for Asylum. Efforts will be made to ensure the prompt 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. Consequently, a common EU list will be created. The safe countries will be determined in the list. It is anticipated that applications from asylum seekers from these countries will be largely unaccepted.

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 mechanism of “voluntary solidarity” of the EU countries.

NEW SANCTIONS

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, explaining that the components determined to come from the EU will be banned.

Emphasizing that they also assessed the EU’s economy and competitiveness at the summit, von der Leyen said he told the leaders about the new industrial plan they had prepared to increase the competitiveness of European industry in the field of net emissions. zero.

Von der Leyen recalled that the plan includes relaxing EU public support rules, redirecting existing EU funds, speeding up green project approvals, channeling employee skills into these areas and signing new trade agreements to ensure the security of supply of critical raw materials.

Noting that the EU Commission will prepare concrete legislative proposals in mid-March, von der Leyen added that the issue will be reassessed at the next summit. (AA)