EU needs faster migrant returns, say 17 countries including Germany, France: Report

Seventeen European countries, including the three largest EU economies, are calling on the European Commission to speed up migrant returns.

Fourteen EU countries, as well as Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein, signed an appeal calling on the EU executive to propose new rules making returns policies stricter, Reuters reported. The letter to the Commission says migrants with no right to stay in the EU “must be held accountable,” according to the report.

The push comes amid a rightward and anti-immigration shift in multiple EU countries. Austria’s anti-migrant, Russia-friendly Freedom Party (FPÖ) topped the polls in a national election for the first time last weekend. Far-right parties have made major gains or won elections in Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and France.

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has threatened to give asylum seekers one-way tickets to Brussels in protest EU fines levelled at the country for breaching EU asylum rules.

The 17 European countries in their letter to the Commission are asking for new rules to allow governments to detain illegal migrants if they pose a risk to national security, as well as to force migrants to cooperate with authorities and ensure all EU countries use the same software to manage cases. While not in the EU, Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein are members of the passport-free Schengen area.

Austria’s nominee for the new European Commission, Magnus Brunner, is likely to take over the EU’s migration top job in the coming months, signaling a rightward shift in the EU’s approach to migration.

It remains to be seen if the future coalition government in Austria will pressure the EU to move even further rightward on migration policy. The FPÖ’s leader, Herbert Kickl, has accused other Austrian parties of a “sinister” plot to keep the far-right FPÖ out of a future coalition government in the country.

EU justice ministers will discuss migration at a meeting in Luxembourg next week.