15 EU states demand plan to send asylum seekers to third countries

COPENHAGEN: 15 EU states have demanded a further tightening of the bloc´s asylum policy, making it easier to transfer undocumented migrants to third countries, including when they are rescued at sea.

The demand, sent in a letter to the European Commission that AFP received on Thursday, comes less than a month before European Parliament elections, in which far-right anti-immigration parties are forecast to make gains.

The letter asks the European Union´s executive arm to “propose new ways and solutions to prevent irregular migration to Europe”.

The group includes Italy and Greece, which receive a substantial number of the people making the perilous journey across the Mediterranean Sea to reach the EU -- many seeking to escape poverty, war or persecution, according to the International Organisation for Migration.

They want the EU to toughen up its recently adopted asylum pact, which introduces tighter controls on those seeking to enter the 27-nation bloc.

The 15 proposed in their letter the introduction of “mechanisms... aimed at detecting, intercepting -- or in cases of distress, rescuing -- migrants on the high seas and bringing them to a predetermined place of safety in a partner country outside the EU.