New rules attack fundamental rights at the cost of European values
Migration
Today, MEPs voted on changes agreed at trilogue negotiations to the Migration Pact on safe countries of origin and safe third countries concept. These new rules will see greater restrictions on the right to asylum in Europe and asylum seekers being deported to countries, with potentially poor human rights records, where they have no connection. The Greens/EFA Group is opposed to the reckless and short-sighted outsourcing of Member States’ responsibilities to third countries where human rights compliance cannot be guaranteed.
Erik Marquardt MEP, Greens/EFA shadow rapporteur for the files, comments:
“While the EPP celebrated the adoption of the Migration Pact, it is now, even before its implementation, choosing to work with the far right to further weaken the right to asylum and fundamental rights. Major decisions on migration must be carried by broad democratic majorities, not by alliances that undermine Europe’s democratic foundations.
“The approach to so-called safe countries has lost any sense of balance. Classifying countries such as Türkiye or Egypt, where there are serious and well-documented human rights concerns, as ‘safe’ puts people at risk and makes it significantly harder for asylum seekers to prove persecution.
“These plans also risk creating a two-tier asylum system in Europe. Some member states will find it easier to outsource responsibility through Rwanda-style models, while others are left with no realistic or legally sound alternatives. This is not solidarity, it is burden shifting.
“If the EU wants to manage migration in a pragmatic way, solutions must be legally robust and practically workable. Previous attempts in the UK, Denmark or Italy have either been stopped by courts or come at enormous financial cost, without delivering sustainable results.
"A truly pragmatic asylum policy cannot detach itself from human rights and the rule of law. Ignoring these constraints will not create order, but legal uncertainty, political chaos and human suffering, and it is once again courts that will be left to clean up the damage.”
