The EU has failed on illegal immigration, EU Parliament President Roberta Metsola has admitted.
Delivering the annual ‘State of Europe’ Speech of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation (KAS) in Berlin on November 6, she also expressed “cautious optimism” that the bloc would “finally break the deadlock” regarding migration through the latest immigration reform under negotiation.
Her comments were delivered during an annual event of the think tank affiliated with Germany’s center-right CDU party, the largest German opposition party and part of the EPP, which Metsola is also affiliated with. Germany has been Europe’s top destination for migrants for nearly a decade, starting under the long rule of Angela Merkel and the CDU. The continent is also in the midst of a new immigration surge, partly due to the war in Ukraine and partly due to increasing immigration, mostly illegal, from various African and Middle Eastern countries. Germany had already seen 56,052 illegal immigrants arrive by August of this year, despite attempts to tighten border controls.
“Migration is one area where we have seen too little progress in the last ten years,” Metsola said.
She added that would also need to be “firm with those not eligible for asylum.”
The new migration pact under negotiation includes “compulsory solidarity”—with which several member states are in major disagreement—as well as processing asylum applications at the European borders instead of within the member states they are relocated to. Europe is also in the midst of a surge of irregular immigration that is on target to surpass even the mass influx of migrants in 2015.
“Making returns more effective through faster processing of asylum applications, improving the modalities for returns and closer operational coordination and cooperation among member states, third countries, EU institutions and agencies should be at the top of our discussions,” she said. “Loopholes between a negative asylum decision and a return decision need to be closed.”
Speaking near where the Berlin Wall had once stood, she evoked “the spirit of hope” that underlies the European project.
“Having the political courage to make ideas come true. That is Europe and it is the spirit that we have to recover. There is no better place to say it than Berlin, where a few meters from here, the wall fell 34 years ago,” she said.
She also addressed the situation in the Middle East.
“We know that Hamas must be stopped,” she said. “As a parliament, we have always and will always keep insisting on respect for international law, that the humanitarian consequences of stopping Hamas must be a priority and that aid must be able to reach the innocent people in need.”
“Taking a strong stance against terror and making every effort to alleviate the humanitarian crisis in Gaza are not mutually exclusive,” she added.
She said that the European Parliament is supporting the work to free hostages taken from Israel by Hamas as well as pauses to allow humanitarian aid into Gaza, and also reaffirmed the need to “take a strong stance against terror” and to work for a long-term, two-state solution that can bring about peace for Israelis and Palestinians.
Metsola and EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen met with Israel’s Minister of Foreign Affairs Eli Cohen on November 7th in Brussels. Metsola had also visited Israel with von der Leyen in mid-October to offer condolences and show solidarity with the country following the horrific terror attacks by Hamas.
“People will look to us to deliver on all these issues before they vote next June,” the EU parliament president concluded her speech in Berlin.
Some have noted Metsola’s rising political profile, evident in addresses such as the one recently delivered in Berlin, her role in EU-Israeli relations, or bringing actress and refugee activist Cate Blanchett to speak in the Eurochamber. Metsola has already made history as the youngest leader yet of the European Parliament.
