BRUSSELS: The European Commission will propose during its new term measures to tighten the EU’s stance on migration, responding to pressure from governments across the bloc for which irregular arrivals have become a major political and security problem.
Ursula von der Leyen, who runs the European Union’s executive arm, wrote to EU leaders who gathered to discuss migration on Oct 17-18 that the Commission intended to address 10 issues to help the bloc’s 27 countries deal with migration challenges.
“In the coming mandate, the Commission… will continue to … ensure that we stand fair and firm on migration, addressing what we all agree to be a European challenge,” she wrote. The Commission’s new term is likely to start on Dec. 1.
Irregular migrants arriving in Europe last year numbered less than a third of the 1 million people at the peak of the migration crisis in 2015.
However, migration remains a very sensitive topic influencing elections in most European countries and fuelling far-right voter sentiment.
Germany, wary of public opinion backlash against irregular migration ahead of elections next September, has introduced border controls with all its neighbours, suspending the freedom of the passport-free Schengen zone. France, Denmark, Sweden, Austria, Italy and Slovenia have also introduced border checks. –Agencies
