EU Unveils Radical Overhaul of Immigration Policies

Strategic Insights -

EU President Jean-Claude Juncker has announced a sweeping reform of the continent's fragmented immigration policies, calling for a common regime of EU border guards, legal channels for coordinating arrivals, and binding systems for absorbing refugees fairly across Europe.

In a major address to the European parliament, Juncker urged root-and-branch reform of disparate immigration policies, criticizing national governments for failing to observe agreements on asylum procedures and warning that some could face sanctions. He accused governments reluctant to take in refugees of historical amnesia, pointing to Europe's long record of refugee crises and persecution, from the Huguenots in 17th-century France to the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s.

Juncker confirmed that Brussels is asking national governments to agree to distribute 160,000 refugees currently in Italy, Greece, and Hungary on a binding and not a voluntary basis. He proposed a permanent new system of sharing refugees in case of crisis and called for the creation of a European force of border and coastguards to patrol and police the external frontiers of the Schengen travel zone.

Key Takeaways:

  • The EU is proposing a radical overhaul of its immigration policies, calling for a common regime of EU border guards, legal channels, and binding systems for absorbing refugees.
  • National governments are being asked to distribute 160,000 refugees currently in Italy, Greece, and Hungary on a binding and not a voluntary basis.
  • The EU is considering the creation of a permanent new system of sharing refugees in case of crisis.
  • A European force of border and coastguards is to be formed to patrol and police the external frontiers of the Schengen travel zone.
  • The EU is drafting policies to open up legal channels for people seeking to get to Europe by highly hazardous routes.
  • The commission will come forward with a well-designed legal migration package in early 2016.
  • Angela Merkel says the commission proposals do not go far enough, suggesting a binding agreement on a binding distribution of refugees based on fair criteria.

Statistics:

  • 160,000 refugees are currently in Italy, Greece, and Hungary and are to be distributed on a binding and not a voluntary basis.
  • 500,000 people are estimated to have entered the EU this year.
  • 26 countries are part of the passport-free Schengen travel zone.
  • 28 countries will meet in Brussels to discuss the compulsory refugee quotas.

Sources:

  • Ian Traynor in Brussels, The Guardian
  • Speech of Jean-Claude Juncker to the European parliament in Strasbourg
  • Angela Merkel's speech to the Bundestag
  • Commission on the European Union.