EU leaders seek tougher proposals to protect borders from migration pressure

EU leaders have asked the European Commission to draw up tougher proposals to protect the bloc’s external borders from the use of migration as a political or geopolitical tool. The proposals are expected before the next EU summit in December, Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten said after a two-day meeting in Brussels. [1]

Jetten cited this summer’s arrival of about 80,000 migrants from Morocco in the Spanish exclave of Ceuta, as well as migrants crossing from Belarus into Poland. He said leaders had held a lengthy and sometimes heated discussion on migration.

The talks also exposed disagreements over national migration policies. Spain was reportedly challenged over its plan to grant residence permits to hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants. Denmark, Italy and Poland argued that the move could encourage irregular migration, according to the report. [1]

Italy, meanwhile, faced criticism for refusing to take back asylum seekers who entered the EU through Italy from other member states, despite an obligation to do so. Jetten described the exchanges as a sharp but substantive discussion that could help countries reach better agreements. [1]