As per news reports in September 2020, the European Commission will table a plan with a view to reforming the bloc’s asylum system and organise a fair redistribution of asylum-seekers across the EU. It is the latest in a series of similar, though unsuccessful, reform attempts, made in 2015 and 2016. According to EU diplomats, the recent blaze which destroyed the overcrowded Moria refugee camp on the Greek island of Lesbos has lent the debate new urgency. President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen intends to scrap and replace the existing Dublin Agreement which regulates where to apply for asylum in the EU.
There is a unanimous approval, necessary for a major shift in asylum policy. Therefore, the new framework may not require countries to take in refugees and asylum-seekers because several EU members have rejected any form of mandatory redistribution. The issue who will take in some of the 12,000 homeless asylum-seekers has become politicised as the EU states have started wrangling over it. For example, Germany announced it would take in 1,500 people from camps on various Greek islands, along with some unaccompanied 150 minors. France said it intended to take in the same number of youths, the Netherlands would allow 100 to enter, and so on. The remaining EU member states have either not committed or refused to take anyone in.
On the other hand, Austrian Interior Minister of the Austrian People’s Party (OVP) is of the view that bringing asylum-seekers from the former Lesbos camp to other parts of Europe would ‘send the wrong signal.’ He wants his European colleagues ‘not to give in to violent migrants’ whom he presumes to be suspected of setting fire to the Moira camp in order to be allowed to travel to mainland Greece. Moreover, Austria sent 55 tons of goods to Greece for the construction of a new migrant camp.
There is few support for migrants in the EU, anti-migrant sentiments are prevalent throughout much of the bloc. A 2020 study by the European Commission’s Joint Research Centre analysed regional and European election data as well as other surveys and found that parties explicitly reject migrants.
Data of Illegal Migrants
According to the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex), some 1,42,000 individuals entered the EU ‘irregularly’ in 2019. This refers to individuals who enter an EU country without a visa or proper documents and then apply for asylum. However, the number of such people has dropped drastically since 2015. Last year, 83,000 ‘irregular’ migrants entered the EU via the Greek islands, followed by Spain (24,000) and Italy (24,000). Some 7,20,000 asylum applications were received in 2019, which is greater than the number of ‘irregular’ migrants. It means a sizable number of migrants entered the EU undetected or applied for asylum in more than one place. Another survey in Germany last year among asylum-seekers found that about 40 per cent flew in by plane. There are also cases of arriving with a tourist visa and applying for asylum on getting expired. There are migrants who entered the EU without ever registering or applying for asylum and they live largely undetected.
Courtesy: dtnext.in