“We need to make substantial changes to asylum procedures in the EU. If necessary, building fences at our external borders should be eligible for EU funding – the European Commission should not refuse to fund such measures. Fences are always a last resort, but we need them wherever trafficking gangs successfully try to circumvent European law. We also have to answer the question of whether asylum applications could be submitted outside the EU,” stressed the head of the European People’s Party (EPP), Manfred Weber, ahead of the debate on migration in the Plenary.
The EPP Group adopted a position paper outlining its policy proposals on asylum and immigration.
“Europeans are tired of endless debates, they are waiting for Europe to give answers and therefore the EPP approved an updated document with its positions on immigration,” added Weber. “We must have a European policy that strongly protects the borders. We must distinguish between refugees and economic migrants and return essentially all those who do not need international protection,” he noted.
MEP Jeroen Lenaers, EPP Co-ordinator, in the Civil Liberties and Internal Affairs Committee, noted: “We need a system that gives us the means to resist the abhorrent behaviour of countries like turkey and Belarus instrumentalising immigration and using people for their own political games. Furthermore, it is not sustainable to let NGOs patrol the southern sea border. The involvement of civil society is welcome, but we need a clear rulebook, defined by the EU. That is why we are calling for a code of conduct for NGOs involved in search and security operations. When preparing such a code of conduct, the Commission should consult Frontex and the Member State authorities working on the front line in the first stage, and then other relevant actors such as civil society organizations” concluded Lenaers.
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