The Left debunks the far-right’s narrative of fear and division. 

The agenda of the right and far-right is clear: they will stop at nothing to persecute people-on-the-move.
A few months after the adoption of the shameful EU Pact on Migration & Asylum, the EPP requested a debate in plenary on managing migration in an effective and holistic way, with a focus on promoting returns. 

They are pressing the European Commission for a new proposal on returns—yet another disgraceful capitulation to xenophobic narratives and a betrayal of Europe’s professed values. We now see EPP and S&D governments fully backing this far-right agenda. The Left rejects any proposals for “return hubs” or external processing of asylum claims. 

During the debate, Left MEPs condemned the approach of appeasing far-right leaders like Giorgia Meloni in Italy, who, through her agreement with Albania, demonstrates a disregard for human dignity. 

Estrella Galan (Sumar, Spain) commented the speech of the European Commission: “These so-called “innovative formulas” we are now inventing to externalize asylum, and borders are a violation of human rights and a failure that has already been proven for decades. Do you really want to innovate? Apply international law and act with humanity. Legal and safe pathways so that people don’t have to risk their lives at sea. That is the only effective migration management, consistent with the European principles and values that Meloni despises and that we now seem eager to buy into.” 

Ilaria Salis (Sinistra Italiana, Italy): “The attempt—so far failed—to externalize detention in a concentration camp on foreign soil represents: a cruel ordeal and humiliation for people deported on the high seas and treated as disposable humanity; a demonstration of utter incompetence, given that the illegitimacy of the operation was evident from the start; & a disturbing distortion, from the right, of the legality of international law that protects the rights of people on the move.”  

Kostas Arvanitis (Syriza, Greece): “For five years, we have been working on this and have stressed that this package will mark the end of rights, the tombstone of European values. We insisted, and we continue to insist, that we must address the issue of mandatory responsibility sharing among member states.” sh