European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen in October said that EU capitals should consider creating “return hubs” in third countries to speed up ejections of undocumented migrants.
Her own migration chief isn’t so sure that will work.
“I think that could be quite hard,” outgoing European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson told POLITICO in an interview before she leaves the European Commission, stressing that there is not yet a concrete proposal for such a scheme and that the next Commission would need to look into how return hubs could function.
The suggestion of using external return hubs is emblematic of the EU pivoting to a harder line on migration, as more right-leaning governments — including in the Netherlands, Italy, Finland and Sweden — have entered power during Johansson and von der Leyen’s years in office in Brussels.
Johansson is, however, confident that the flagship Migration Pact, finally agreed in April 2024 after years of tortured negotiations, will survive “for a very long time” — “because I know how hard it is to change it.”
After countless late nights at the negotiating table — interspersed with sock knitting to clear her mind — Johansson was part of accomplishing what she called a “mission impossible,” sealing a deal on the EU’s new common migration and asylum policy.
The Swedish Social Democrat is “incredibly proud” of having unified 27 countries with very different stances on the new Migration Pact, “despite a right-wing wave of extremist parties.”
“The situation was very deadlocked when I stepped in and migration policy was regarded as somewhat toxic. I think I have succeeded in making it a more normal policy area,” she added.
On Sunday, Johansson hands over the migration portfolio to Austria’s Magnus Brunner, and she’s confident she’s not passing along a poisoned chalice.
She considers the migration situation in Europe “significantly better” than when she took office in 2019. Irregular migration is down by 40 percent and returns are up by 20 percent in comparison to last year. “It is clear that we have much better control today,” she added.
However, the EU needs to roll up its sleeves to accelerate the returns of rejected asylum-seekers, Johansson said. “The current return legislation is 16 years old. We need new legislation based on what we have agreed in the Pact,” she said.
A proposal to reform the return directive was put forward in 2018 by President Jean-Claude Juncker’s European Commission, but that didn’t go through during Johansson’s mandate. She now expects the incoming executive to draft a fresh proposal.
Johansson said it feels “very good” to hand over the portfolio to Brunner, despite the fact he’s an Austrian conservative from the European People’s Party who faced criticism for his lack of experience in the field and who has expressed openness to establishing return hubs in non-EU countries.
“What political group you belong to is of course important. But personality, commitment and knowledge matter even more,” she said.
Johansson is concerned about Belarus and Russia using migrants as part of a hybrid warfare campaign against Europe and she urged Brunner to come up with “better legislation” to address it.
“I see increasing aggression from the Belarusian side. More and more violence both against migrants and against Polish border guards,” Johansson said.
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