The EU’s hurry to strike a deal on migration at any cost during this European Commission’s mandate must not jeopardise fundamental rights, says The Left in the European Parliament.
Today, EU interior ministers have met in Brussels to discuss the external dimension of migration and the crisis regulation as part of the Migration and Asylum Pact. The Left in the European Parliament reiterates its position to put people and the individual right to asylum before any political calculations.
With mounting evidence that Tunisia is not a safe place for its citizens and even less for the people on the move, we call again on the EU to cease the deal with the authoritarian regime in the country. The EU-Tunisia Memorandum of Understanding has no legal basis and is a blank cheque for an undemocratic government with no human rights clauses attached. Tunisia most recently amply demonstrated political backsliding on democratic standards and refusal of scrutiny in its denial of entry to a European Parliament delegation seeking to look into human rights concerns.
The steps forward today by the Council regarding the crisis regulation are paving the way for a de facto abolition of the individual right to asylum in Europe. The Council’s current position would lead to more detention, death, and suffering and is a gift to right-wing hardliners.
In welcoming millions of Ukrainians, Europe has shown that humane solutions are possible when there is political will. We urge the EU to apply the same standards in all migration cases, stresses The Left.
“The obsession of the interior ministers with externalising the EU’s responsibility for asylum and migration is shameful. European governments have long moved away from saving people’s lives, solidarity, and the individual right to asylum. Instead, they are now actively contributing to more people dying on their way to Europe, concluding a dodgy deal with Tunisia. It is widely known that externalisation policies force people onto more dangerous routes, often leading to death. The proposed New Pact on Migration will not help to solve these issues; instead, it is only fuelling far-right demands and will lead to a de-facto abolition of the right to asylum in Europe. Once again, the Member States are showing how little regard they have for human life,” declared Cornelia Ernst (Die Linke, Germany).
