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/LONDON - Rights campaigners warn that new policies from European governments to deter migration from Asian, African and Middle Eastern countries may shut out or even criminalise refugees, already facing growing hostility across the bloc.

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

In Germany, a deadly knife attack in the western town of Solingen fuelled tensions after police said a Syrian suspect confessed to the killings. The attack was claimed by Islamic State.

In Britain, riots targeting migrants, refugees and Muslims erupted in August after three girls were killed in a knife attack in northwest England, triggering a wave of false messaging online that wrongly identified the suspected killer as a radical Islamist migrant.

Even before the June election, 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?

Germany

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, facing criticism of his government's handling of migration, pledged to ramp up deportations when he visited Solingen after the attack.

The far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) seized on the attack as it campaigned ahead of votes in three eastern states. The anti-immigration party is leading in the polls in Saxony and Thuringia, where elections are set for Sept. 1, and in Brandenburg, which has its election on Sept. 22. 

Germany, which received the EU's largest number of asylum applications in 2023, is also seeking to stem migration with a new policy that would put limits on how and where asylum seekers can spend the financial benefits they receive and, along with Austria, it has expressed interest in the possibility of processing asylum seekers abroad.

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.

Though tackling illegal immigration has been a priority for both France and the UK, thousands of people have arrived on Britain's shores from France in overcrowded boats this year, with reports of two deaths in August, and five in July.

France

Marine Le Pen's far-right National Rally (RN) performed strongly in June's European elections and has led the wave of anti-immigration parties calling for stronger border controls and asylum applications to be processed outside the bloc.

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

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 but facing delays, would be paid for 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

Aiming to curb migration to the Canary Islands, Spain's Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez struck a series of deals with Mauritania in August to combat people smuggling networks.

More than 21,000 migrants arrived in the Spanish archipelago in the first seven months of 2024, representing a 154% rise from a year ago, according to data from the European Union border agency Frontex.

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

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

Poland

Polish lawmakers voted in July for a bill that makes it easier for security services to use firearms against migrants on the Belarus border, a move that enjoys public support but that critics say infringes human rights.

The government says it is engaged in a form of hybrid warfare with Belarus and its ally Russia, which it says have been orchestrating the migration crisis on its eastern border by flying in migrants from the Middle East and Africa, something Minsk and Moscow deny.

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 including Syria and Somalia.

Helsinki has said a recent rise in asylum seekers arriving via Russia was an orchestrated move by Moscow in retaliation for the Nordic country’s decision to join NATO, a charge the Kremlin denies.

This article was updated August 29 with details of rising anti-immigration sentiment and other developments.

(Reporting by Joanna Gill in Brussels and Lin Taylor in London; Editing by Ayla Jean Yackley, Clar Ni Chonghaile, and Helen Popper.)