The main topic of the EU summit is the policy of granting asylum to refugees: what foreign media write
At the latest EU summit held in Brussels, the leaders of the 27 EU member states and governments gathered once again to discuss one of the most pressing issues of our time – the refugee asylum policy. The problem of illegal migration and asylum has been a source of deep divisions among EU member states for many years, with each country having its own approaches and interests. Recently, the community has been debating how best to counteract the growing number of asylum applications, whether to introduce stricter border controls or to outsource the processing of applications to third countries. However, despite the efforts to find a common strategy, these issues are becoming a source of controversy and conflict even within the community itself. Some countries are taking their own measures to address this problem, which adds new challenges to building a common policy.
The situation is further complicated by the fact that the media are divided in their assessments of the situation. Some believe that tough measures will help stop the flow of illegal migrants, while others point to the risks of humanitarian disasters and accuse such approaches of violating human rights. Obviously, this problem requires a coordinated and strategic solution, as it affects not only the national interests of individual countries, but also European security and stability in general. What do foreign media write about this problem?
Kleine Zeitung – Austria. The Vienna-based Kleine Zeitung calls for unity:
“The reaction of the EU countries is always the same – senselessness and complete chaos – a pathetic picture. And today the momentum is stronger than ever to take a big step forward in asylum policy. The main thing here is to separate legal migration from illegal migration and not to give the field of activity to populists who, if given the chance, would cancel everything in an instant.
We need to find an effective way out of the current asylum policy, which has clearly gone astray. The more amateurishness there is among the community countries, the more difficult this task becomes. The closure of borders in half of Europe, even if it often exists only on paper, is evidence of our helplessness. The problems with asylum seekers are simply being shifted to the shoulders of a neighbour – instead of finding a common solution together.”
Le Figaro – France. ‘The EU must adhere to a single and clear line in the field of migration policy,’ notes Le Figaro in Paris:
‘Italy, in the person of Georgia Meloni, is now setting an example for everyone to follow: Germans, French, Swedes and even the British Labour Prime Minister Keir Starmer are watching with interest the start of her experiment in Albania: reception centres have been opened there to process migrants’ asylum applications.
The only exception so far is the Spanish socialist Pedro Sanchez. But how long will he hold out? In Italy, the inflow of illegal migrants decreased by 60 per cent over the year, while in Spain it increased by the same percentage. This fact should encourage the EU to overcome its weakness, namely the difficulty in moving forward together to increase efficiency.”
Die Welt – Germany. ‘The ice has finally broken,’ Berlin’s Die Welt notes with satisfaction:
“European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has announced a proactive course aimed at encouraging countries of origin to take back their migrants. At the same time, the EU countries are closely following the initiative of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to transfer the asylum procedure to Albania. The first migrants are already arriving there.
Ten years after the migration crisis, the European Union is beginning to realise that strict border protection and consistency in the processing of asylum applications is not something inhumane. On the contrary, it is a way to provide protection to those people who really need it. Only in this way will society not have a negative attitude towards the right to asylum.”
El País – Spain. ‘There is no migration crisis,’ says Madrid’s El País:
“There is no urgency or emergency: according to the Frontex organisation, the inflow of illegal migrants to the EU is even slightly decreasing. But the numbers say one thing, while the political narrative is moving in a completely different direction, set by the far right parties.
There is anything but a migration crisis in Europe, but the political wind is changing and a hardline discourse is gaining ground – despite the fact that Europe needs migrants like air. We used to talk about rights and economic reasons, but now the migration debate revolves around security. Open borders are no longer a symbol of freedom, they have become a symbol of insecurity.”
La Vanguardia – Spain. Europe is acting under the influence of panic – this is the concern expressed by Barcelona’s La Vanguardia:
“Schengen has been dealt a fatal blow. Internment camps are a gesture of desperation. Fear of migrants has led to the rise of far-right parties in Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Austria, the Netherlands, France and Spain. Europe has panicked and is no longer able to cope emotionally with the presence of those seeking new horizons, trying to escape poverty, persecution and war.”
Irish Examiner – Ireland. According to the Dublin-based Irish Examiner, ‘outsourcing’ asylum cases to another country cannot be a solution:
“But investing in measures to ensure effective access to asylum, as well as reception and integration into the EU, without compromising human dignity, could make a difference. The humanitarian crisis in Ukraine has shown that the EU’s migration problem is not a quantitative one. The EU was able to accept more than four million refugees from Ukraine because it had the political will to do so.”
