The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, recently hinted that the European Union could “draw lessons” from Italy’s contentious offshore migrant processing plan in Albania, which had assembled the leaders of EU nations for a migration-centered summit. Critics have made their stand against the offshore centers in Albania managed by Italy. Yet, the president seems interested to consider this policy further to counter migration challenges.
This is part of a wider plan by von der Leyen to tighten the migrant policies of the EU, specifically in the light of very low rates of deportations—currently only 20% of irregular immigrants are actually returned to their country of origin. Other nations in the EU, such as the Netherlands, have plans of the same variety and already include discussions on processing migrants in third countries, such as Uganda. These offshore solutions aim at taming the exploitation of loopholes in the migration systems within the EU. The system has lately faced heightened pressure because of irregular migration and also the political fallout in the bloc.
This shift saw Italy start relocating some of its migrants to Albania so that their asylum claims are processed over there, an approach that comes with both logistical and ethical challenges. Meanwhile, Germany and France have recalled their respective border controls while Poland has suspended the right to asylum as a “provisional measure” to stem the influx of migrants. All this seems to continue the drift towards more austere policies in the face of an alarming increase in Europe’s far right parties that made them rush to take stronger immigration control measures.