New asylum pact: EU interior ministers discuss return hubs and “deportation law”

Karner explained before the council meeting that he had just come from a meeting of the implementers group. On the sidelines of the previous Council meeting, Austria, Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark and Greece agreed on a concrete roadmap to quickly implement return centers outside the EU. The Interior Minister emphasized that “we want to have concrete dialogue partners or a concrete project here by the end of the year so that we can start implementing it next year.”

Karner: Had a lot of conversations

Karner did not want to name countries where these return centers could be set up. This is “of course a sensitive matter” and “we don’t want to torpedo the discussions we are having by making them public.” According to media reports, Uganda and Kazakhstan are being discussed. During his recent stay in Uzbekistan, he had “very, very many conversations,” he answered a question.

“The implementation of the pact is in full swing. This is the basis for the major migration reform that we have as a whole,” explained EU Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner (ÖVP) when he arrived at the Council. But everything won’t work 100 percent perfectly on the first day: “With such a huge reform, it’s always the case that we need a certain amount of time.”

Ministerial meeting to implement the pact in Cyprus

“This is undoubtedly a milestone, as the EU now has a comprehensive legal framework to address migration issues in a coherent and efficient manner. To celebrate this occasion, we are hosting an informal ministerial conference in Cyprus on June 12,” announced Cyprus Migration Minister and current Presidency representative Nicholas Ioannides. He assumes “that most member states are ready. And we do not assume that there will be any problems.”

Further topics will be the situation in the Schengen area and the controls at internal borders currently carried out by Austria, which the Commission only criticized on Tuesday. Karner explained that the most important thing is that “the number of illegal migration has fallen massively in recent years”. For him, this means that the measures taken by Austria and others obviously worked and “were important and right”.

EU interior ministers examine protection for Ukrainian men

The EU interior ministers are also considering excluding Ukrainian men of military age from automatic protection in the EU. Karner said in Luxembourg that he was “very much in favor of ending automatism” when it comes to “men of military age.” Brunner also stated that he assumed that “there could be a consensus” on this issue.

The so-called mass influx directive allows EU states to grant refugees immediate protection without an individual asylum procedure. This means that the refugees can also work. This temporary protection status for refugees from Ukraine was last extended until March 2027. The EU Commission plans to present a proposal for a further extension shortly. A decision from the EU interior ministers is not expected on Thursday.

Brunner emphasized that the countries “that are particularly affected” must be listened to. Since the beginning of the Russian war of aggression in Ukraine, Germany has taken in more than 1.1 million people from Ukraine. Other important receiving countries are Poland and the Czech Republic.