Austria sees the first important measure of the European Commission after the exclusion of Romania from Schengen through the veto vote given in December, and this because it was officially announced that an informal meeting of the interior ministers from the European Union will take place in Stockholm tomorrow , the main topic of discussion being migration.
Austria asked to reduce the number of migrants who enter Europe and ask for asylum, and in Stockholm the repatriation of migrants who managed to enter Europe illegally will be discussed, the repatriation rate in the European Union being below 30% in recent years, and the EU bloc wants to increase this percentage, which could also bring Romania's accession to Schengen.
Austria sent its interior minister, Gerhard Karner, to Brussels to ask the European Commission for a tougher policy on asylum and repatriation, the Commission officially setting a target of 70% of repatriations for illegal entries, which was never reached, but with the pressure that the government in Vienna is putting now, it is not excluded that things will change radically.
"We have implemented new measures regarding asylum applications in Austria, now we also need measures in Europe to combat the abuse of asylum applications. The European Commission must pay attention to the protection of external borders, finance technical improvements and make legal adjustments.
The proposed "Repatriation Directive" should help to remove from the external borders all those who come illegally to Europe for economic reasons. The EU has been trying to increase the repatriation rate for a long time. In April 2021, for example, the EU Commission presented a strategy that focused primarily on voluntary returnees."
