The EU is using ‘migration diplomacy’ to convince countries outside Europe to ease migration pressure, the European Commission for Migration says.
European interior ministers are meeting in Copenhagen today to discuss the issue.
There were more than 75,000 attempts by migrants to illegally enter the European Union in the first six months of this year, according to the EU’s border agency, Frontex.
That’s down 20 percent on the same period last year, but the pressure is still considerable.
“We have to put migration on the table when we negotiate with third countries”, European Commissioner for Migration, Magnus Brunner, said this morning.
“We need these states, we must cooperate with these states and these governments”, he added.
When the EU is negotiating “other issues, when it comes to trade, when it comes to development cooperation, when it comes to other support options” with countries outside the European Union, it should also make migration part of the negotiations, he said.
The EU is currently negotiating a new law which would allow member states to set up so-called ‘return hubs’ outsides Europe.
Failed asylum seekers could be sent there before being returned to their home country.
When Simon Harris was Taoiseach, he suggested Ireland should be open to such “innovative solutions”.
But Amnesty International has branded return hubs unlawful and unworkable.
Magnus Brunner, said the new law would set the groundwork for those EU member states who want to, to set up return hubs.