Fortress Europe: Migration flashpoints in an election year

• European governments toughen rules as far right strengthens

• Anti-immigration parties gained seats in European election

• Rights groups warn refugees could be left in limbo

BRUSSELS - Rights campaigners are warning that a raft of new policies from European governments aimed at deterring migration from Asian, African and Middle Eastern countries may shut out or even criminalise refugees.

Amid significant gains by far-right parties in the European Parliament in a June ballot, more countries across the continent are imposing measures to address rising anti-immigration sentiments among voters.

Even before the vote, European lawmakers approved a major asylum policy overhaul on May 14 to reduce irregular arrivals.

The measures aim to cut the times for security and asylum procedures at external EU borders, increase returns, and support countries such as Italy that receive many seaborne arrivals.

Rights groups say the measures could increase arbitrary detention and repatriations to countries where asylum seekers are at risk of violence or unfair imprisonment, while lawyers warn that there could be an increase in court challenges.

Mid-way through a major election year, where are Europe's migration flashpoints?

Britain

British Prime Minister Keir Starmer scrapped a controversial plan to fly thousands of asylum seekers from Britain to Rwanda after winning a landslide election victory on July 4.

The Rwanda scheme was a cornerstone of the former conservative government's strategy to deter illegal migration. It would have required people arriving from a safe country, such as France, to instead seek asylum in the African nation and bar them from returning to Britain.

Starmer called the plan "dead and buried," saying only about 1% of asylum seekers would have been removed and it would have failed to act as a deterrent. Annual net migration to the UK hit a record 745,000 people in 2022.
 

France

Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally's (RN) success in June's European elections led the wave of anti-immigration parties that have called for strengthened border controls and asylum applications to be processed outside the bloc.

The French government's plans to significantly toughen rules for migrants, such as making it harder to bring in relatives and receive welfare, were dealt a blow in January, when the Constitutional Court ruled large parts of a draft immigration bill must be scrapped.

Germany

The anti-immigration party Alternative for Germany (AfD) came in second in the European parliamentary vote and joined forces with the Europe of Sovereign Nations group to form a third far-right grouping in the assembly.

Despite mass protests against AfD plans to deport millions of foreigners earlier this year, the party has reported a surge in membership and is seeking to build on its European electoral success in three federal state assembly elections scheduled in the country's east this year.

Germany, which received the EU's largest number of asylum applications in 2023, is seeking to stem migration with a new policy that would double the amount of time until asylum seekers receive full social benefits.

Along with Austria, Germany has also expressed interest in the possibility of processing asylum seekers abroad.

Italy

Last year was the deadliest since 2017 for the central Mediterranean crossing used by migrants to reach Italy, with Tunisia overtaking Libya as the main departure point, according to medical charity Doctors Without Borders.

Italy moved closer to becoming the first EU country to have a non-EU country process migrants on its behalf when Albanian lawmakers voted in February to ratify a deal with Rome to host up to 36,000 migrants per year.

Two purpose-built centres, due to open in August, would be paid in full by Italy and operate under its jurisdiction, meaning they would be covered by EU asylum rules.

Human rights advocates have warned that Italian courts would struggle to process asylum requests or appeals from people hosted in a foreign country in a timely manner and that lengthy procedures could place an unjustified burden on migrants.

Spain

The Spanish far-right party Vox quit several regional government coalitions in July to protest a deal to transfer around 400 young migrants from the Canary Islands to mainland Spain.

More than 16,500 migrants arrived in the archipelago in the first five months of 2024, five times more than in the same period a year earlier, according to government figures.

The seven Spanish islands have become the main destination for migrants from Senegal and other African countries trying to reach Spain.

Parliament voted in April to draft an amnesty bill to legalise hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants, based on a proposal by civil society groups.

Netherlands

A rightwing government was sworn in the Netherlands in July, following months of tense negotiations led by far-right populist leader Geert Wilders after his Freedom Party's (PVV) shock election win in November 2023.

The new coalition has vowed to become the strictest on migration in the EU, seeking an opt-out of the bloc's rules for migration.

Border controls will be intensified, asylum procedures and deportations sped up, family reunifications limited and labour migration curbed, under the new proposals.

Finland

Amid wider tensions with Moscow, Finland has passed a new law to grant border guards the power to block asylum seekers crossing from Russia.

It comes after the country temporarily closed its entire border with Russia at the end of 2023 to stop the flow of asylum seekers, many of whom are from countries like Syria and Somalia.

Helsinki has said a recent rise in asylum seekers arriving via Russia was an orchestrated move by Moscow in retaliation as the Nordic country joined NATO, a charge the Kremlin denies.

This article was updated July 25, with latest details in a number of countries.

(Reporting by Joanna Gill in Brussels and Lin Taylor in London; Editing by Ayla Jean Yackley and Helen Popper)