Amnesty International is demanding the EU stop outsourcing asylum, in a report critical of Italy’s controversial deal with Albania to fast-track deportations of people deemed to come from countries considered ‘safe’.
But the NGO’s appeal, along with the EU recommendations due to be published later on Thursday (20 August), is likely to fall on deaf ears as the European Commission instead presses member states to further embed their self-declared “innovative solutions” aimed at preventing people from ever claiming asylum in Europe.
Earlier this month, Magnus Brunner, the EU commissioner for migration, told MEPs that national capitals should take advantage of expanded rules, known as ‘safe country concepts’, in order “to have asylum procedures already outside the European Union.”
He also suggested the focus on setting up deportation centres abroad was a distraction, noting the safe country concept essentially allowed Spain to deport almost everyone that arrived at the Ceuta enclave back to Morocco after the sudden arrival of some 80,000 people.
Linked to that is the possibility of also sending asylum-seeking nationals to another non-EU country, even if they have never set foot there before.
