The EU should “explore” Rwanda-style offshore migrant processing hubs, Ursula von der Leyen has said.

All European countries have the seemingly impossible task of deterring and dealing with illegal migrants and it’s become such a problem that all avenues are at last being explored.
Italy is already building such a ‘hub’ in Albania to process anyone who lands on Italian shores.

I wonder what Labour thinks of all this?
Still ‘smashing the gangs’? How’s that one coming along?
It’s been very quiet from Yvette Cooper.
I don’t think we’ve had any updates.

I think that all European countries are looking to pull up their metaphorical drawbridges.

I can only see the problem escalating.

I can’t believe Labour just said ‘no’ and cancelled Rwanda the first week they were in. Bluddy fools.

GrannyGravy13

I think that all European countries are looking to pull up their metaphorical drawbridges.

I can only see the problem escalating.

When Angela Merkel was telling the world that she wanted Germany to take as many immigrants as possible and they would throw open their doors I predicted then that she would walk away leaving a mess behind her and that has come true. We have friends in Germany and people there are very fed up with the state of the country now and the problems mass immigration has brought.

My cousin said French TV news is that Italy has already sent the first batch to Albania.
ECHR not mentioned!

www.reuters.com/world/europe/eu-offers-tighten-migration-stance-under-pressure-governments-2024-10-15/

It’s a pity the UK is no longer in the EU, isn’t it FriedGreenTomatoes2 so wouldn't have been included in any EU plans? Thankfully now we’ve got a Labour Government they’ve been working hard on rebuilding fractured relationships, have already visited Italy to see their Albania plan, signed up to the G7 new plan, are working much more closely with France, have increased manpower to bust gangs with some success - etc. etc.

I’m a cynic and am glad there’s no guarantee there will be reduced migration in future, but I believe there will be, and I’m looking forward to the wind being taken out of Reform’s sails immensely.

I hope (whoever gets a grip) that progress is made. Doesn’t bother me which stripe of the political spectrum achieves it. I’m just annoyed with Labour right now for cancelling Rwanda, thereby almost gifting it to a country or two in Europe without a cast iron plan of their own to take its place. We just look foolish now.

Actually I bet Starmer feels pretty silly. Another own goal.
They just keep coming.

If you read the Reuters article FriedGreenTomatoes2, the EU are not proposing an equivalent to the Rwanda Plan? Contrary to your view, I bet Starmer is feeling mighty relieved that more money won’t be wasted on Rwanda when the UK will benefit tremendously from the European approach, and with a fair wind can hope to be part of it.

Rwanda has problems of its own just now with an outbreak of the deadly Marburg virus.

WHO classified the Marburg virus disease outbreak in Rwanda as a grade 3 emergency, the highest internal level for emergencies based on the WHO Emergency Response Framework.

Casdon

If you read the Reuters article FriedGreenTomatoes2, the EU are not proposing an equivalent to the Rwanda Plan? Contrary to your view, I bet Starmer is feeling mighty relieved that more money won’t be wasted on Rwanda when the UK will benefit tremendously from the European approach, and with a fair wind can hope to be part of it.

Precisely. Well said.

What VdL is proposing is a tad different from our Rwanda plan.

FriedGreenTomatoes, Labour thought it was taking the moral high ground, and would look good, instead just look foolish as other countries look to take up similar schemes.

I hope you’re right Casdon. Actually Himself said something similar this evening “if Europe secures its own borders better then that should have a knock on effect for us with less irregular migrants gathering in France”.
Let’s hope so. 🤞

Perhaps they are finally waking up to how short-sighted it was to open the doors to all and sundry. The EU should have set up immigration centres in other countries, where people could apply for asylum. I know this has been the policy for a while but it should have been expanded. Allowing unlimited numbers to simply flood across the borders was a very irresponsible thing to do.

Talk about shutting the stable door once the horse has bolted!
Decades of wishy-washy politics and no fair and robust immigration policies have brought Europe to where it is today.
For the UK, Tony Blair's open door policy was a disaster allowing all and sundry to walk in unchecked. Our country and infrastructure has suffered greatly with illegal immigration.
All words and no action and I expect this latest suggestion to be the same.

I find the EU puzzling, on this issue and on so many others. They talk about working together and about joined up thinking, then each member decides to go off and do things its own way!
In the end, each country has to do what works for them. That's why I think Starmer, having stopped Rwanda, should now devise an effective new plan very quickly.

FriedGreenTomatoes2

I wonder what Labour thinks of all this?
Still ‘smashing the gangs’? How’s that one coming along?
It’s been very quiet from Yvette Cooper.
I don’t think we’ve had any updates.

This sort of cynicism does not help. All European countries are struggling with this very complex problem and there are no easy solutions. The government are right to be looking at the role of the criminal gangs who thrive on this "trade", but I do not imagine this is all they are looking at, nor that they are operating in isolation from other countries.
At least they are approaching it with humanity, unlike the previous government who seemed to regard frightened refugees as pawns.

Luckygirl3

FriedGreenTomatoes2

I wonder what Labour thinks of all this?
Still ‘smashing the gangs’? How’s that one coming along?
It’s been very quiet from Yvette Cooper.
I don’t think we’ve had any updates.

This sort of cynicism does not help. All European countries are struggling with this very complex problem and there are no easy solutions. The government are right to be looking at the role of the criminal gangs who thrive on this "trade", but I do not imagine this is all they are looking at, nor that they are operating in isolation from other countries.
At least they are approaching it with humanity, unlike the previous government who seemed to regard frightened refugees as pawns.

Don't called migrants threating people with guns "harmless". Very naive to think they are all frightened refugees. !!

No mention of Rwanda in this statement- so the headline is misleading.

Yes as keeping quiet said, The headlines are from a Telegraph report as in "Rwanda-like' hubs but as several here have pointed out Ursula von der Leyen not referred to Rwanda, but other countries.

The hub in Albania is for failed asylum seekers after processing to await deportation. Successful Asylum seekers stay in Germany. Thats why she called them "Return Hubs"

The Rwanda scheme in the UK proposed that all Asylum seekers should be sent to Rwanda and even those successful would not be returned to the UK even tho they had claimed Asylum in the UK.

Totally different.

Its nice to see the UK waking up to the fact
Europe has the same problem

I have empathy for genuine asylum seekers/refugees.

I am also a realist and have come to the conclusion that Europe cannot afford to take all who want to.

The USA is having similar problems from those fleeing South American Countries.

I have no idea what the solution is, but I acknowledge that there are genuine fears here and on mainland Europe that the influx of mainly young men is changing the demographic of some areas, not always for the good.

Yes quite Freya.i read about a migrant who raped a young girl in a boat in front of her mother.

Most are economic migrants with a few genuine asylum seekers mixed in.Economic migrants to be deported and genuine asylum seekers to be accepted, easy to say but not so easy for the authorities to untangle.