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Fidesz MEP Kinga Gál criticized the European Commission in the plenary debate on migration after Ursula von der Leyen spoke about voluntary solidarity.
In a plenary debate with the Swedish Presidency – represented by Minister for EU Affairs Jessika Roswall – and Ursula von der Leyen, the president of the European Commission, MEPs discussed the migratory challenges facing Europe, ahead of next week’s extraordinary European Council meeting in Stockholm.
According to Parliament’s statement, the focus next week will be on controlling external borders, cooperation with third countries, and returning migrants and asylum-seekers without a right to stay in the EU more efficiently to their countries of origin or transit.
Ursula von der Leyen
Von der Leyen stressed that migration is a European challenge that requires a European response. Legislative work should continue with a view to concluding the pact by spring 2024, while developing additional actions to bolster the external borders and ensure faster and dignified returns of migrants to their countries of origin or transit, she explained.
Improving voluntary solidarity, addressing the root causes of migration from third countries, and introducing safe and legal pathways into Europe should also be EU priorities,
the German official added.
Instead of stabbing Hungary in the back, the European Commission should finally reimburse the cost of the country’s border management measures, and support member states protecting their external borders for the efforts they are making to fight illegal migration for the security of the EU as a whole, Fidesz MEP Kinga Gál said during the debate.
She stressed that migratory pressure on the EU’s external borders is increasing at an alarming rate, with regular incidents of violence against border guards near the Serbian border on the Western Balkan migration route.
Gál warned that the only solution is to protect the EU’s external borders and stop illegal migration.
This is why proposals that still seek to harbor illegal immigration rather than stop it are harmful. A distribution system based on solidarity is an incentive for hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants and criminal organizations that smuggle people,”
she added.
Featured photo via the European Parliament