The increasing brutality against migrants at the EU’s external borders demonstrates the failure of EU migration policy, Swedish EU lawmaker Malin Björk, a member of The Left group at the European Parliament, told EURACTIV in a video interview.
The MEP also condemned what she called the “dirty deals” with “undemocratic” third countries to contain migration flows, such as those with Libya.
“This is not the way forward. We need a robust search and rescue operation in the Mediterranean or even more lives will be lost,” Björk said.
Roughly 26,000 people have died in the Mediterranean Sea since 2014, according to data from the UN’s migration agency.
A UN report recently condemned the EU for backing Libyan authorities, arguing that the bloc aided and abetted rights violations.
Swedish Presidency and migration
According to the EU lawmaker, the Swedish presidency is contributing to making the environment among EU ministers at the Council more “far right”.
“Everyone knows that their friends are in Hungary, in Italy, and with their right-wing nationalists across Europe. So I think it changes a lot the kind of atmosphere for negotiations in the EU Council,” she added.
The Swedish government
The right-wing government in Sweden, elected last Autumn, is led by a coalition composed of the centre-right Moderate party, whose leader is Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson, and the far-right Swedish Democrats.
The country holds the rotating presidency of the EU Council until the end of July.
According to the Swedish MEP, despite being in the minority in the government, the Swedish Democrats wield the greatest influence on the migration agenda, describing the far-right party as having roots in neo-Nazism.
“In terms of migration policy, [there are] very worrying trends at the national level,” the MEP said, citing Stockholm’s initiative to reconsider the permanent residency of some asylum seekers.
[Edited by Nathalie Weatherald]
Source: euractiv.com
