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EU Border Controls
Need To Be Tightened |
EU leaders want to focus on migration and protection of external
borders, or the “integrity of our physical space”, over the next five
years, according to a draft of the so-called strategic agenda obtained
by EURACTIV. Economy and climate action rank second and third.
In the draft strategy for 2019-2024,
meant to guide the work of the EU institutions, national leaders
prioritize migration policy over other areas, while strengthening the
economy, fighting climate change and taking Europe global also feature.
In the top-billed area of “Protecting
citizens and freedoms”, the agenda insists that effective border
controls are “an absolute prerequisite” for maintaining rule and order,
and adds that other EU policies rely on it.
“First and foremost we must ensure the integrity of our physical space. We need to know and be the ones to decide who sets foot on EU territory,” it reads.
The draft plan explains that the bloc
will maintain and expand its links with the countries immigrants come
from and travel through, which would include Libya and Turkey.
The Leaders also insist that they are “determined to find a way through on internal migration and asylum policy”.
A reform of the migration-focused
Dublin Regulation is currently languishing in the Council and late last
year, the current European Commission all but gave up on finalizing its
proposed update before the end of its mandate in October.
From an Euractive report
