Fifteen European Union (EU) member states have urged the adoption of new strategies to manage the issue of irregular migration, including the formation of agreements with third countries located along major migration routes.
This initiative aims to alleviate the burden on EU member states. According to a report by Prague International Radio in English today, Friday, these countries, including the Czech Republic, have sent a letter to the European Commission advocating for changes to the bloc’s asylum policy.
The proposed changes include establishing mechanisms to monitor, intercept, and transfer migrants by land and sea to third-party partner countries outside the European Union until their asylum requests can be processed.
The letter references an agreement between Italy and Albania, which facilitates the transfer of thousands of asylum seekers rescued by Italian authorities at sea to Albania, where they await decisions on their applications.
This arrangement exemplifies the type of agreements the EU member states are considering to more effectively manage migration pressures.
The EU has given its final approval to a historic reform of its migration and asylum policies, ending nearly a decade of debate, just a month before the European elections expected to see a rise in far-right parties.
With the massive legislative package crossing the finish line, some countries are striving to tighten the EU bloc’s policies further and redirect more migrants to third countries to process their claims.
Hungary and Poland voted against all the legislation, which was approved by a qualified majority (55% of member states representing at least 65% of the EU’s population), while Austria and Slovakia voted against some of the laws.
These migration and asylum laws are the result of years of tough negotiations, triggered by the massive influx of irregular migrants from Syria and Afghanistan to Europe in 2015.
