EU countries agree positions on new asylum, migrant returns policy

Contributing sentiments towards policy:

67% : The Council also agreed its position on a regulation which would create EU-wide rules on migrant returns, including obligations on those issued with return orders for the first time.
55% : " Member states agreed that EU accession candidate countries be designated as "safe" for asylum seekers along with Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, India, Kosovo, Morocco and Tunisia.
53% : EU countries also agreed on their "solidarity pool" for 2026 in which they can decide whether to help Mediterranean states with 21,000 relocations, 420 million euros in funds or other measures.
48% : Further, the new rules will let EU countries set up "return hubs". Olivia Sundberg Diez, EU advocate on migration and asylum at Amnesty International, said on Monday the agreed positions mirror the "dehumanizing" approach in the U.S. and called the hubs scheme "cruel".
43% : Under the asylum rules, an EU country will be able to reject an asylum application if the person could have received protection in a country the EU considers safe.
36% : "EU ministers' position on the Return Regulation reveals the EU's dogged and misguided insistence on ramping up deportations, raids, surveillance, and detention at any cost," Sundberg said in a statement.
35% : "Denmark and a majority of EU member states have been advocating for asylum processing in safe third countries in order to remove the incentives to embark on dangerous journeys to the EU," said Rasmus Stoklund, Denmark's migration minister.
30% : BRUSSELS, Dec 8 - EU countries on Monday agreed their final negotiating positions for several proposed migration laws on new asylum rules, a common EU list of "safe countries of origin" and an EU-wide policy for illegal migrant returns, statements from the Council of the European Union said.

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