Last year, Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner presented two measures to tighten asylum rules, which have now been adopted with the votes of the European People’s Party and right-wing extremist parties in the European Parliament. This has led to the definition of so-called “safe countries of origin” and “safe third countries,” further undermining European asylum law.
What does this mean exactly?
- Deportations to so-called “safe third countries”: Even if the person concerned has no personal connection to this country, they may be deported there. This means, for example, that a person from Morocco who applies for asylum in the EU could be deported to a third country such as Albania without completing the asylum process, even though they have never lived there and have no social or family ties to that country.
- List of “safe countries of origin”: People from these countries will have little chance of obtaining asylum in the future, as their country of origin is classified as “safe” across the board. However, this list includes countries such as Turkey and Egypt, where human rights violations and political persecution have been documented.
Instead of ensuring protection, the European People’s Party is promoting a policy of exclusion and discrimination. These laws do not primarily serve the purpose of security, but rather the deliberate weakening of fair asylum procedures based on the rule of law. People fleeing war, persecution, or existential hardship now run the risk of being rejected outright without their individual situations being examined.
These changes contradict a European asylum policy based on solidarity. Similar third-country models have already failed legally, practically, and financially in the past, as examples from Denmark and the United Kingdom show. Instead of creating solutions, these measures threaten to cause new, even greater humanitarian crises.
Why do people flee?
Fleeing is not a free choice, but a matter of survival. It is also clear that the European People’s Party is shifting further and further to the right, making the entire discourse more hostile to humans.
The political rhetoric of the right wing and the People’s Party, which promises to simply “stop” migration, fails to understand the reality of the situation. As long as the causes of flight are not eliminated, people will continue to be forced to leave their homes. A truly responsible policy must address these causes instead of humiliating people who are fleeing or restricting their rights.
People do not flee out of a thirst for adventure, but because the foundations for a safe life are being torn away from them. The reasons for this are manifold: political persecution, war, and violence, but environmental and climate crises are becoming more frequent and intense, destroying our habitats and threatening our livelihoods.
Climate change-induced migration
Over the past ten years, around 250 million people have been forced to flee within their own countries due to climate-related disasters. In 2024 alone, around 45.8 million people had to leave their homes due to natural disasters and climate-related extreme events such as heavy rainfall, prolonged droughts, heat waves, or severe storms. That is almost twice the average for the last ten years.
In addition, climate change is increasing pressure on already scarce resources such as clean water and fertile soil. When there is no drinking water or food, people are forced to obtain it by any means possible.
Nevertheless, politicians like Brunner talk about “stopping” migration by criminalizing and deporting people. Now they are to be sent back to countries they have no connection to, where they have never lived and whose language they do not speak. These are people who are seeking protection and safety.
Nevertheless, politicians like Brunner repeatedly talk about stopping migration without acknowledging the causes of flight and combating them at their root.
But those who ignore the climate crisis also ignore one of the central causes of flight. As long as livelihoods are destroyed, people will cross borders, and then it is irrelevant how strict the regulations are. Migration must not be viewed as a crime.
These stricter measures will not prevent people from fleeing their countries. They will merely result in more people being stuck in precarious conditions in overcrowded camps at the EU’s external borders. Men, women, and children will be left behind in a state of uncertainty and without prospects for the future.