Last year's coup in Niger risks increasing the number of irregular migrants entering the European Union (EU), EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson said ahead of a crucial vote on the bloc's new migration pact today (April 10, local time).
The military junta that took power in Niamey in a 2023 coup has revoked a law that helped reduce the flow of West Africans to Europe.
The EU is looking for closer cooperation with African countries to reduce unwanted immigration.
“The coup in Niger worries me very much,” Ms Johansson told reporters. “That could of course lead to a lot of new migrants in a very difficult and dangerous situation.”
More than 45,500 people have entered the EU this year, according to UN data. That is far below the peak in 2015 when more than 1 million people, mostly Syrian refugees, arrived.
Since then, the 27 EU member states have struggled to reduce irregular immigration from the Middle East and Africa by tightening borders and restricting asylum as anti-immigration demands mount across the continent.
Under pressure from far-right parties expected to gain ground in European Parliament elections in two months, the EU has touted a new migration pact signed late last year as a breakthrough to better handle migration.
The European Parliament will hold a final vote on April 10 on a new migration pact that would shorten asylum screening and processing times, seek to streamline refugee returns and provide aid to member states under pressure from rising migration.
If approved, the treaty will be ratified by member states in the coming days.
Ms Johansson hopes the vote will pass. But 161 civil society organisations have called for the treaty to be rejected, which they say abuses fundamental rights, including allowing the detention of children, and is “a leap in the wrong direction”.
“This decision will impact children fleeing conflict, hunger and death for decades. It is imperative that the EU gets it right,” said Federica Toscano from Save the Children Europe.
Migration expert Alberto-Horst Neidhardt, of the European Policy Centre think tank, described the pact as a “difficult” compromise and warned against expecting quick solutions to the complex challenges posed by migration.
Source
Comment (0)