Read next: Denmark leads 15 member states in call to outsource EU migration policy
“Now it is the majority who want to have control over the outer borders and begin to deal with more long-term solutions. For example, centers outside the EU,” she told Ritzau last week.
Von der Leyen said the discussion on how to organise these hubs was still in progress. Key questions would be how to establish whether a third country is ‘safe’, how long a migrant could be kept in a hub, and what to do if a return is not possible.
The right-wing government of Italy has already set up a return hub in Albania, to which it sent its first 16 men from Egypt and Bangladesh last week.
Meanwhile, the conservative Dutch government is considering sending rejected African asylum seekers to Uganda, according to Reuters.
But not all leaders were enthusiastic. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that the Albanian centre, which can house 3,000 asylum seekers, would only be able to handle a fraction of Germany’s total asylum requests and that a law on fast returns would be more helpful.
Scholz and other leaders also emphasized that the EU badly needs migrants to plug its workforce shortage as the EU population ages and its pensions systems come under increasing strain.
Spain’s Socialist Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez said migration was positive and something that Spain and other European economies desperately need to combat ailing birth rates and welfare states.
“Do we want a prosperous and therefore open Europe, or do we want a poor and therefore closed Europe?” Sanchez said.
“We need to address the migration phenomenon with future generations in mind, not the next elections.”
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Publish date : 2024-10-21 00:26:00
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