EU summit: “Step up returns”. Brunner: “Hubs in third countries are legitimate. No one has entered from Ceuta”

“The Council emphasised the importance of cooperation with third countries and the further development of partnerships that create the right opportunities for people in their countries of origin and strengthen migration management”, stressing “that communication in times of crisis could be further strengthened”. These are some of the conclusions of the informal meeting of EU interior ministers, convened via videoconference by the Irish Presidency following the Ceuta emergency, partly in response to the letter initiated by Giorgia Meloni and the Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen – and signed by 20 other Member States – regarding the migration crisis in Spain. The press release goes on to state that the meeting revealed “a consensus on the need to continue fighting migrant smuggling networks relentlessly, to step up returns, to strengthen the EU’s borders, to build solid partnerships with third countries and to improve forecasting capabilities”.

Outlining the key points of the summit during the press conference, the European Commissioner for Migration, Magnus Brunner, explained that “Spain has confirmed today, as previously stated, that virtually everyone who entered Ceuta has now returned. No one has crossed the border from Ceuta into mainland Spain or mainland Europe”. The Commissioner then also addressed the issue of return hubs, specifying that their funding will be dealt with at a later stage and describing the whole matter as “legitimate and a matter for those Member States that wish to do so, but let us also focus on the concept of a safe third country. This means that the asylum procedure can effectively be carried out outside the European Union, where the concept of a safe third country allows for it”. The Commissioner went on to explain that “the Italy-Albania project is different. It is an Italian project. However, five or six Member States are collaborating to discuss repatriation centres with third countries. This means that the asylum procedure can effectively be carried out outside the European Union, where the concept of a safe third country allows for it.” Brunner also added that, regarding Italy’s decision to suspend the Schengen Agreement with Spain, there would be “an assessment” of the measures adopted, which must be “proportionate” and “temporary”.

The Italian government’s plan is to expand the ‘Albania model’, and there is reportedly already a preliminary list of countries that could host the new hubs, many of which are in Africa. These include Ghana, Senegal, Tunisia, Libya, Mauritania, Egypt, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Armenia, Montenegro and Ethiopia. Among the potential candidates, in particular, could be Uganda – in which Germany, Austria and the Netherlands have already expressed an interest – and Montenegro. The main points of today’s meeting were outlined the day before during the meeting of the Permanent Representatives of the 27 (Coreper), at which Italy – according to sources at Palazzo Chigi – reiterated the key points of the letter signed last Friday by 22 heads of state and government of the European Union, “reaffirming the need for a European approach to tackling irregular migration flows”. Specifically, Italy emphasised that the protection of external borders and the strengthening of the external dimension of migration policy “must form the pillars of the Union’s action, not least given that the proper functioning of the Schengen area depends on the integrity of the external borders”. Reference was also made to the need to strengthen the tools for combating irregular migration, “by eliminating pull factors and enhancing the Union’s deterrent capacity”. These issues are likely to feature prominently again today, with regard to the urgent need to step up cooperation with third countries and make returns more effective – including by swiftly launching pilot projects to establish return hubs in third countries – as well as adapting the international legal framework to the challenges posed by modern irregular migration.

The suspension of Schengen? “This is in no way a measure directed against Spain or any other partner. It is a precautionary and organisational decision.” This was stated by the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, in his address to the Justice and Home Affairs Council. The minister expressed Italy’s “sincere solidarity” to the Spanish government. “We know full well what it means to be on the front line when facing an extraordinary emergency, as happened in 2023, particularly in Lampedusa, when thousands of people landed on our territory in the space of a few months,” he recalled, with a hint of criticism. “Let me say frankly that on that occasion, Italy did not receive the necessary and expected solidarity that we would have anticipated.” 

“We have created a new legislative framework at European level and now is the time to put the new hub models into practice for the external management of asylum procedures and for returns to safe third countries, moving beyond the old ideological taboos of the past,” continued Piantedosi. According to him, “Italy has led the way with the Italy–Albania Protocol”, attracting the interest of an ever-growing majority of Member States. “Processing asylum applications through accelerated border procedures and carrying out returns directly within facilities managed in safe third countries,” he emphasised, “constitute the strongest possible deterrent against human trafficking and irregular migration flows.” 

The hours leading up to the meeting were rather tense. Yesterday, in fact, the Spanish Foreign Minister, José Manuel Albares, attacked the government in Rome, claiming that it had ‘failed to rise to the challenge’ regarding the Ceuta crisis. He then went on to criticise the Spanish right for its ‘irresponsible’ positions. One of its leading figures, Santiago Abascal Conde (leader of the far-right political party Vox), welcomed Palazzo Chigi’s decision to suspend the Schengen Agreement following the Ceuta crisis, earning praise from Deputy Prime Minister Matteo Salvini.

Albares’ remarks were followed by figures from the Ministry of the Interior. According to these, “in Italy, from January this year to the present day, there has been a sharp fall in the number of irregular migrant arrivals, achieved precisely thanks to the policies of the Meloni government”. These results were also claimed by Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani, who emphasised that the new EU Pact on Asylum and Migration “bears a distinct Italian stamp, following in the footsteps of Silvio Berlusconi and the governments he led”. Yet it was precisely during those governments that two amnesties were introduced (in 2002 under the Bossi-Fini law, and another in 2009), alongside a 2006 immigration quota decree, leading to the regularisation of over a million people.