The reintroduction of internal border controls in Germany, the expulsion of Afghan refugees to Kabul, threats by Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban to send migrants by bus from Budapest to Brussels… Europe has opened up a new and tense political situation at the start of the school year on the inflammatory issue of immigration. The issue will be discussed at the summit of European heads of state on the return to school in mid-October, say several diplomats in Brussels.
Since the beginning of the year, the number of irregular arrivals in the European Union recorded by Frontex has decreased by 36% (113,400 arrivals at the end of July). The Twenty-Seven finalised the pact on migration and asylum in June to jointly manage these arrivals, while increasing migration agreements with Tunisia, Egypt and Lebanon. But this did not have the expected political effects for the ruling parties. Quite the opposite.
In June, the emergence of far-right parties in the European elections, as well as in the legislative elections in France and, more recently, in the regional elections in two eastern German states, the victory of the AfD and a left-wing party hostile to immigration, have put the migration issue in the foreground.
The excitement aroused by the succession of deadly attacks in Germany by radicalised refugees at the end of May in Mannheim and at the end of August in Solingen forced the governing coalition to take urgent measures from the end of the summer: expulsion of 28 Afghans, reintroduction of controls at all the country’s borders from 16 September, reduction of social benefits for certain refugees. A 180-degree turn for one of the countries that until now was considered one of the most open in Europe.
“Unacceptable” for Donald Tusk
From now on, the political trend points to a further tightening of migration policy, shared between Brussels and the capitals of the Twenty-Seven, while Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the Commission, will have to detail in the coming weeks the roadmap for the future Commissioner for Home Affairs. The post, which no country has claimed due to the many blows to be taken, could fall to the Belgian liberal Hadja Lahbib.
Since 2015, the countries of the Schengen area, where freedom of movement prevails, have periodically re-established internal border controls for security reasons. France is not deprived of this. By simultaneously announcing the reintroduction of border controls with its nine neighbouring countries, Germany is sending a strong message, which has earned it some hostile reactions from its European partners.
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