Published 8 May 2024 at 11.57
EU. Immigrants who want to seek asylum within the EU should be allowed to stay outside the Union while their applications are processed, according to a new proposal.
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Behind the proposal is a group of EU countries led by the Czech Republic and Denmark, reports Euractiv.
The countries are preparing a letter to the European Commission in which they propose that immigrants who try to enter the EU illegally should be moved to third countries and have their applications examined there.
“There a permanent solution could be found for them”, says the letter, which was seen by the Czech Hospodářské noviny.
The system is reminiscent of what the UK plans to introduce, and which means that parts of the British asylum reception are outsourced to Rwanda.
According to the new proposal, such a system must apply at EU level. The plan also envisages transfers of people who are already in an EU country but have not been granted asylum there, suggesting that such immigrants could be turned away to third countries from which they could then in turn be deported.
Initiator to the letter are Denmark and the Czech Republic, but the proposal is supported, according to Euractiv, by the majority of member states, including the Netherlands, the Baltic states and Italy.
Hungary advocates a similar solution – so-called externalization – but has not yet signed the letter . A diplomat tells Euractiv that Hungary is considered “toxic” in the context and that it could harm the purpose if the country is associated with it.