United Nations gives cautious nod to European Union deal on migrants

“After days of bickering, EU leaders have signed off a raft of unsafe and self-serving policies which could expose men, women and children to serious abuses”, said Iverna McGowan, Director of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office.

But critics, including some politicians and analysts, say that Europe risks abdicating its responsibility at a time when migrant flows are drastically reduced from their 2015 peak, and that it would be inviting additional challenges with facilities hosted by poorer and less-stable countries, where people – including minors – could languish in unsafe conditions.

Their deal comes after months of increasing tension over the European Union’s migration policy.

The US president has repeatedly attacked the EU, sharply denouncing what he considers its unfair trade practices, particularly regarding the auto industry, and the European grouping has become a favored target of his, in private and in public.

In a bone to Merkel, the leaders would also agree to “closely cooperate” on stopping secondary movements of migrants, according to draft summit conclusions, although the language might be weaker than she would have hoped.

The deal follows weeks of diplomatic wrangling over migrant rescue ships, and which country should take them in. He also pointed to the upcoming European parliamentary elections as a chance to restore democratic values in the EU.

“We should try to avoid escalating this into a tit-for-tat trade war which wouldn’t benefit anyone and would certainly be harmful to a trading nation like Ireland”, he said.

Belgian Prime Minister Charles Michel pointed to Mrs May’s domestic political difficulties, saying the British gave the impression of negotiating with each other, rather than the EU.

While Italy pushed for its European counterparts’ greater support, other leaders were not keen to revise European rules that require asylum seekers to be processed in the country where they first arrive.

Next Monday (2 July), Dutch prime minister Rutte will also visit the White House.

The expected result is the distribution of the burden of resettling refugees more effectively and evenly among member states. “And you know what, we can’t let that happen”, Trump said at a North Dakota rally, ABC News reported. “Given the history of the European Union it is factually incorrect”, Rutte told press at the European Union summit in Brussels on Thursday.

Policies already enacted have helped push that number down, notably an agreement with Turkey for the Turkish government to help cut off migration routes and to accept the return of those who make the journey from Turkey to Greece.

But Pascale Joannin, director of the Robert Schuman Foundation, said voluntary European initiatives had succeeded in the past, such as the Schengen passport-free zone and defence cooperation. “We have reached an agreement that is good for Poland and for the whole community”.

Without a deal “we would no longer be able to share real-time alerts for wanted persons, including serious criminals” and “our collective ability to map terrorist networks across Europe and bring those responsible to justice would be reduced”, she told her counterparts.

“I am not sure that we will find an agreement between the USA and the European Union, but we try”, he concluded.