Migrants, that “Rwanda model” which divides the parties in the European elections
Here are the positions, between those who ask first to reject and those who ask for a Europe that is no longer a "fortress"
ROME – A few days before the opening of polls for the renewal of the European Parliament, the groups and parties competing for the new majority are putting migration policy among the themes at the center of their manifestos. And what acts as a “watershed” between the proposals regarding those seeking to cross the Schengen borders is not the new Migration and Asylum Pact – although it is still the subject of debate – but rather the “Rwanda model” that comes from the United Kingdom, notably absent from the European elections for the first time since Brexit came into force.
THE CONSERVATIVES’ CHOICE IN LONDON
To prove favorable to the plan with which the government of Prime Minister Rishi Sunak, in tandem with the Rwandan President Paul Kagame, wants to systematize the transfer to Kigali of migrants who arrived irregularly through the Channel, is the European People’s Party (EPP) led by Ursula von der Leyen. For months the outgoing president of the EU Commission has been repeating that “it must be Europe, and not traffickers, who decides who enters and who does not”. The EPP, in addition to strengthening the Frontex agency, proposes that “anyone who requests asylum in the EU can also be transferred to a safe third country and carry out the asylum procedure there. In case of a positive outcome, the safe third country will guarantee protection to the applicant on site”.
THE AGREEMENTS WITH TUNISIA
But if the agreement with Rwanda is not explicitly mentioned, the program instead includes “the one with Tunisia”, which legitimizes the concept of “safe third country”, which for defenders of migrants’ rights is a form of “outsourcing of responsibilities” of European countries to non-European states, often accused of poor respect for international rights and conventions.
SOCIALIST OPPOSITION
Against this line, but in favor of the framework of the Migration and Asylum Pact, are the Socialists and Democrats (S&d), convinced that the Pact “takes the EU out of the logic of emergency management” of the phenomenon, which requires a “strengthening of borders”. While asking for greater protection for minors and women and ensuring that “rescue at sea is not criminalised”, the Luxembourg candidate and current Commissioner for Labor and Social Rights Nicolas Schmit has recently opened up to outsourcing of the phenomenon, as long as it “takes place under European control”. Renew Europe, the centrist family of liberals, proposes “management” of the borders and a “humane” approach to those who dream of crossing the Schengen borders, to defeat the main enemies of migrants: populism and traffickers. Among the “spitzenkandidat”, the Frenchwoman, Macron’s ally, Valérie Hayer, the German of the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe (ALDE), Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann< /strong>, and the Italian Sandro Gozi, secretary of the European Democratic Party (PDE). The Greens are calling for a barrier to the race of far-right parties, the only ones to suggest extending the use of the Temporary Protection Directive – used for Ukrainians immediately after the outbreak of war in 2022 to guarantee asylum in a few days – as well as visas for “climate refugees”.
THE RIGHT THAT ADVANCES
For various analysts, the race for seats among the 27 member states sees right-wing formations such as the German Alternative fur Deutschland (Afd), the French Rassemblement National well placed by Marine Le Pen, the Portuguese Chega (“Enough”!) and Greek Solution, which will directly challenge the conservative New Democracy of Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis. The latter has emerged from years of tensions with Turkey in order to put a stop to the landings in the Aegean. Yet Identity and Democracy, the European group that brings together right-wing parties including ADF, did not want to publish a common manifesto and therefore the position on migrants was not clearly stated. Instead, the leader of the European Left Walter Baier, “spitzenkandidat” of the only group that goes so far as to invoke “the cancellation” of the European Pact on Migration and the demolition of “Fortress Europe”. The right of the Conservatives and reformists of Ecr – a group which sees the Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni as president and refuses to present a candidate to the Commission – takes the line of the Popolari and proposes “an increase in repatriations ” and more “externalization of borders through agreements with third countries”, in line with the “Rwanda model”. Brothers of Italy, mostly with Forza Italia and Lega, are therefore trying to win over voters by proposing naval blockade mechanisms and the strengthening of agencies such as Frontex and Europol.
THE LAMPEDUSA EXPERIENCE
The “Lampedusa doctor”, Pietro Bartolo, who runs with the Democratic Party, once again stands against these positions, together with two “new entries”: the former mayor of Riace Mimmo Lucano convicted and then acquitted of the crimes of fraud, embezzlement, forgery and abuse of office in the management of migrants in his municipality, candidate with the Green and Left Alliance, and Cecilia Strada, former president of Emergency and daughter of its founder , Gino Strada, who presents himself with the Democratic Party. The first calls for “welcome, solidarity and redemption of our lands, against abandonment and mafia”; the second recalls that on the day her father died he was on board the search and rescue ship Resq, which had saved almost 90 people.