Luxembourg, Oct 1. (dpa/GNA) – EU home affairs ministers have given final approval to new legislation, aimed at increasing the deportation of migrants, amid calls for tougher measures, following mass border crossings into the Spanish exclave of Ceuta in late July.
The legislation adopted on Thursday, provides for the legal basis to set up contested deportation centres outside the EU for migrants, who are legally required to leave the bloc, but cannot be returned to their countries of origin.
It also introduces new obligations and possible penalties for rejected asylum seekers, and extends the possibility to detain persons who are considered a national security risk, pending their deportation.
EU home affairs ministers gathered in Luxembourg, also discussed the aftermath of a mass border crossing incident at the end of July, when around 72,000 migrants arrived in Ceuta within a few days, triggering a diplomatic crisis and a blame game between EU member states.
In September, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, announced a new European crisis-response framework that would allow for temporary deviations from asylum rules, when migration movements were deliberately orchestrated and used against the EU. Details of the proposal have yet to be presented, but several EU ministers called for additional restrictions.
German Interior Minister, Alexander Dobrindt, backed the idea of introducing special asylum rules for crises.
There could be situations in which it was not necessary to apply standard asylum procedures, he said.
GNA