A new development has been reported by Die Welt: Denmark, which is taking over the rotating presidency of the European Union Council from Poland, wants to fundamentally change the EU’s immigration policy. According to the paper, all of the EU’s migration policy problems stem from the fact that the European Convention on Human Rights “interprets the right to asylum in a way that is unique even on a global scale” – and this taboo is precisely what Denmark intends to break.
The Welt states that the EU “legally ties its own hands” by granting every asylum seeker the right under the European Convention on Human Rights to enter the EU and await the decision on their application there. Challenging this provision has so far been taboo – yet Denmark is preparing to do exactly that. They began their presidency with a letter signed by eight member states calling for a review of the European Convention on Human Rights.
“We must examine whether, in certain cases, the court has interpreted the convention in a way that goes beyond its original intent,” the letter states. In addition to Denmark, it was signed by Italy, Poland, Austria, Belgium, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and the Czech Republic.
Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen, at a joint press conference with Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, announced: she knows the proposal will lead to accusations of violating the rule of law, but this is not true; “we are great defenders of the principle, but we must also be able to make political decisions.”
Under the Danish-Italian proposal it would become easier to deport at least criminals to their countries of origin, and the rights guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights would not apply in cases where the asylum seekers in question reached the EU’s external border through hybrid warfare methods used by Russia or Belarus.
The European Court of Human Rights has so far punished every country that turned back asylum seekers at its borders – this was the case with Greece in 2020, Poland from 2020 to 2023, and Hungary to this day. At the same time, Poland and Finland are still violating EU law by closing their borders with Russia, and Germany under Friedrich Merz’s government is doing the same.
“It is the right impulse to shake the taboo,” Die Welt states. For if the European Convention on Human Rights does not change, many citizens may come to the conclusion that their governments cannot act in their interest unless these governments disregard European law.
