EU governments call for faster deportations of failed asylum seekers

Immigration and asylum: Talks open on surrendering national border controls to new EU authorities while first move in controversial new quota system begins when 20 Eritreans are flown from Rome to Sweden on Friday
European governments decided on tentative steps towards common immigration policies on Thursday in response to the refugee emergency, opening talks on surrendering national control of borders to new EU authorities and calling for more and quicker deportations of failed asylum seekers.

The first move in a new and bitterly contested system of EU quotas for sharing 160,000 refugees takes place on Friday when 20 Eritreans are to be flown from Rome to Sweden under the scheme.  Ten planeloads of failed asylum-seekers are also to be flown home next week as EU interior ministers talked up the merits of more visible deportations to try to deter migrants from making the hazardous trip to Europe.

“All measures must be taken to ensure irregular migrants’ effective return, including use of detention as a legitimate measure of last resort,” a meeting of EU interior ministers in Luxembourg decided. “In particular, Member States should reinforce their pre-removal detention capacity to ensure the physical availability of irregular migrants for return.”

The combination of welcome for bona fide refugees and swift punishment for the less fortunate is being described by EU policymakers as a breakthrough in the painful process of hammering out a coherent response to the mass influx of people this summer, mainly from Syria.

Jean Asselborn, the Luxembourg minister chairing the meeting, signalled that there had been surprising progress towards the creation of a single EU border guards system under which countries would surrender national powers in favour of a new regime led by Frontex, the fledgling EU borders agency. But he acknowledged the issue was sensitive.

Thursday’s meeting also made great play of the new “hotspots” system which is barely operational in Italy and not yet working in Greece, although EU summits and governments have been talking about it since April. It is a German-backed scheme for receiving migrants who are interviewed, identified, and finger-printed. - Read More at the Guardian
EU governments call for faster deportations of failed asylum seekers

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