The European People’s party (EPP), an umbrella group of centre-right and conservative parties, has said in the final draft of its manifesto ahead of elections to the European parliament in May that it wants a series of deal with non-EU countries with a view to deporting irregular migrants for asylum processing in “safe” third countries.
“Yet another unsavoury EPP chunk of red meat, meant to attract the far-right vote. It will not work. All the EPP strategy has achieved over the past years, is making the far right bigger. So if they know it doesn’t work, why do they stubbornly repeat the same tactics each time?” said Sophie in ‘t Veld, a Dutch MEP, and the lead representative for the liberal Renew group on the parliament committee for civil liberties, justice and home affairs.
I think you should review your thoughts on this, because some of your examples are not actually possible.
For example, you say that an asylum seeker could go to a police station once in the country. That implies that they didn’t, in fact, enter the country “regularly”.
You’ve also implied that the asylum seekers are going on the run. Those people are called illegal immigrants. Asylum seekers are the ones who find one of the increasingly few and difficult ways to actually enter the country and claim asylum.
Even the UK, which has a Hostile Environment policy for immigration, allowed 76% of asylum applications in 2022. If these applications weren’t legitimate, they would have found a reason to refuse them. They would love to brag about it in Parliament.