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‘A turning point’: Italy praises plan to overhaul Europe’s asylum rules

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte on Thursday welcomed a plan to change the so-called Dublin Regulation on how asylum claims are processed in the European Union, describing it as a "turning point".

Published: 17 September 2020 14:02 CEST

'A turning point': Italy praises plan to overhaul Europe's asylum rules

Rescued migrants in Palermo, Sicily, on September 2nd, 2020. Photo: AFP

European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen vowed on Wednesday to “abolish” the existing rules, which require asylum seekers to file their claims in the first EU country where they set foot.

Rome has long argued that this is unfair, as those who attempt the dangerous central Mediterranean crossing to Europe land on its shores or have to be rescued off its coasts.

READ ALSO: Italian charity boats resume migrant rescues at sea after two-month break

Italian Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte in Brussels. Photo: AFP

Leyen's announcement “gives us great pleasure,” Conte said, answering a question from journalists during a visit to a school in the capital..

“Italy has worked towards this a lot, because we consider the agreement (the Dublin Regulation) to be to the detriment of the countries of first-entry

landings,” he said.

“This is a turning point,” he added.

Greece also welcomed plans to update the rules, with migration minister Giorgos Koumoutsakos saying Thursday the Dublin Regulation “has failed and

must be changed”.

The Dublin Regulation came into force in 2013 as an agreement between the then-28 members of the EU including Britain, as well as Switzerland, Iceland,

Norway and Liechtenstein.

But its weaknesses were quickly exposed by the migration crisis of 2015, stoking anger in Greece and Italy where governments felt they had been left to

face the challenge alone.

READ ALSO:

Since coming to power in 2019, Italy's current government has been pushing for a new, automatic system for distributing migrants rescued in the Mediterranean between European countries.

Such a deal would put an end to case-by-case negotiations over who will take those saved during the perilous crossing from North Africa, which have left vulnerable asylum seekers trapped in limbo at sea for lengthy periods.

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From Swexit to Frexit: How Europe's far-right parties have ditched plans to leave EU

Whereas plans to leave the bloc took centre stage at the last European polls in 2019, far-right parties have shifted their focus to issues such as immigration as they seek mainstream votes.

“Quickly a lot of far-right parties abandoned their firing positions and their radical discourse aimed at leaving the European Union, even if these parties remain eurosceptic,” Thierry Chopin, a visiting professor at the College of Europe in Bruges told AFP.

Britain, which formally left the EU in early 2020 following the 2016 Brexit referendum, remains the only country to have left so far.

Here is a snapshot:

No Nexit

The Dutch Freedom Party (PVV) led by Geert Wilders won a stunning victory in Dutch national elections last November and polls indicate it will likely top the European vote in the Netherlands.

While the manifesto for the November election stated clearly: “the PVV wants a binding referendum on Nexit” – the Netherlands leaving the EU – such a pledge is absent from the European manifesto.

For more coverage of the 2024 European Elections click here.

The European manifesto is still fiercely eurosceptic, stressing: “No European superstate for us… we will work hard to change the Union from within.”

The PVV, which failed to win a single seat in 2019 European Parliament elections, called for an end to the “expansion of unelected eurocrats in Brussels” and took aim at a “veritable tsunami” of EU environmental regulations.

No Frexit either

Leaders of France’s National Rally (RN) which is also leading the polls in a challenge to President Emmanuel Macron, have also explicitly dismissed talk they could ape Britain’s departure when unveiling the party manifesto in March.

“Our Macronist opponents accuse us… of being in favour of a Frexit, of wanting to take power so as to leave the EU,” party leader Jordan Bardella said.

But citing EU nations where the RN’s ideological stablemates are scoring political wins or in power, he added: “You don’t leave the table when you’re about to win the game.”

READ ALSO: What’s at stake in the 2024 European parliament elections?

Bardella, 28, who took over the party leadership from Marine Le Pen in 2021, is one of France’s most popular politicians.

The June poll is seen as a key milestone ahead of France’s next presidential election in 2027, when Le Pen, who lead’s RN’s MPs, is expected to mount a fourth bid for the top job.

Dexit, maybe later

The co-leader of the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party, Alice Weidel, said in January 2024 that the United Kingdom’s Brexit referendum was an example to follow for the EU’s most populous country.

Weidel said the party, currently Germany’s second most popular, wanted to reform EU institutions to curb the power of the European Commission and address what she saw as a democratic deficit.

But if the changes sought by the AfD could not be realised, “we could have a referendum on ‘Dexit’ – a German exit from the EU”, she said.

The AfD which has recently seen a significant drop in support as it contends with various controversies, had previously downgraded a “Dexit” scenario to a “last resort”.

READ ALSO: ‘Wake-up call’: Far-right parties set to make huge gains in 2024 EU elections

Fixit, Swexit, Polexit…

Elsewhere the eurosceptic Finns Party, which appeals overwhelmingly to male voters, sees “Fixit” as a long-term goal.

The Sweden Democrats (SD) leader Jimmie Åkesson and leading MEP Charlie Weimers said in February in a press op ed that “Sweden is prepared to leave as a last resort”.

Once in favour of a “Swexit”, the party, which props up the government of Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, in 2019 abandoned the idea of leaving the EU due to a lack of public support.

In November 2023 thousands of far-right supporters in the Polish capital Warsaw called for a “Polexit”.

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