EU agrees to get tougher on migrants

The low numbers of failed asylum-seekers being returned to their home countries is a central preoccupation for the bloc.

Ursula von der Leyen closes the 16-hour summit in Brussels on Friday. Picture: AFP

EU leaders have agreed to tougher rules aimed at making it easier to expel asylum-seekers whose refugee applications are denied, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen said on Friday.

That problem is “a European challenge that requires a European response”, EU leaders said in a final document at the end of a 16-hour summit.

The low numbers of failed asylum-seekers being returned to their home countries is a central preoccupation for the EU. The bloc is already hosting millions of refugees from conflicts in Ukraine, Syria and Afghanistan, while facing asylum claims from citizens of safer countries such as Bangladesh, Turkey and Tunisia, many of whom end up being deemed economic migrants ineligible for asylum.

Ms von der Leyen said “pilot projects” relying on the EU’s border patrol, asylum and police co-operation agencies would look to instil “fast and fair asylum procedures” at the bloc’s external borders. The EU leaders called on the commission “to immediately mobilise substantial EU funds” to reinforce that external border with “protection capabilities and infrastructure, means of surveillance, including aerial surveillance, and equipment”, according to the document.

AFP