EU law makes deportations more difficult
Migration expert: Rwanda does not solve all problems
May 17, 2024, 10:21 p.m
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Britain wants to start deporting migrants to Rwanda in July. Despite the recent tightening of the Brussels Asylum Pact, migration expert Knaus does not see it as a role model for the EU. The legal hurdles are currently still too high, this is mainly due to Germany.
After the adoption of the stricter EU asylum pact, migration expert Gerald Knaus is dampening expectations of refugee deals with third countries such as Rwanda. “It wouldn’t be the solution to all problems,” said the head of the European Stability Initiative to “Spiegel”. “Germany certainly can’t deport tens of thousands to Africa. Anyone who says that doesn’t understand the concept.” There are many misunderstandings in the debate: “Such an agreement works with a manageable number of returns. A few thousand would be realistic,” said the expert.
Knaus was recently a guest in Rwanda, which has agreed to accept asylum seekers from Great Britain as part of an agreement. “A migration agreement with Rwanda would be a real paradigm shift: not because many people would be accepted there, but because many would no longer embark on the life-threatening journey with the prospect of a pointless crossing,” said Knaus.
The expert emphasized that an EU agreement with Rwanda based on the British model would be legally problematic, as European law prohibits bringing people to countries with which they have no personal connection. “There is only one way to solve the problem at the moment: a pilot project,” said Knaus. “According to Article 78 in the EU Treaty, in an emergency situation the connection criterion could be suspended for a certain period of time on a certain route. Given the 3,000 deaths in the Mediterranean last year, this would be justified.” In the expert’s opinion, it would be better to change EU law accordingly: “Most states in the EU are already in favor of it. It’s up to Germany,” Knaus told the paper.
15 EU members are calling for further tightening
The asylum pact, finally adopted by the EU countries on Tuesday, stipulates that a migrant can be sent directly from Europe’s external borders to a “safe third country” in order to apply for asylum there. However, the prerequisite is that he or she has a sufficient connection to this third country, for example through relatives. Indiscriminate deportations to Rwanda in East Africa, as Great Britain plans to do from July, are therefore not possible in the EU for the time being. There is also no uniform list of “safe third countries” yet.
After the vote in Brussels, 15 member states called for the legal situation to be further tightened. They called on the Brussels EU Commission in writing on Wednesday to present “new solutions” to make it easier to return migrants to third countries. It is about “preventing irregular migration to Europe,” demanded Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Estonia, Greece, Italy, Cyprus, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Austria, Poland and Romania in the letter. Germany is not one of the signatories.