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| Migrant Crisis Leads to Calls for Tighter Borders in Europe | Migrant Crisis Leads to Calls for Tighter Borders in Europe |
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| BRUSSELS — Eager to push the migration crisis back beyond their own frontiers, European leaders gathered in Brussels on Thursday to endorse stepped-up border controls and a push to get Turkey to control the flow of Syrians and others before they can reach Europe. | BRUSSELS — Eager to push the migration crisis back beyond their own frontiers, European leaders gathered in Brussels on Thursday to endorse stepped-up border controls and a push to get Turkey to control the flow of Syrians and others before they can reach Europe. |
| The gathering in Brussels, the fourth consecutive summit meeting focused on the issue, is unlikely to lead to any significant new policies, but it is expected to confirm a shift in tone away from the open-armed message sent over the summer by Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany toward what critics describe as a “fortress Europe” approach. | The gathering in Brussels, the fourth consecutive summit meeting focused on the issue, is unlikely to lead to any significant new policies, but it is expected to confirm a shift in tone away from the open-armed message sent over the summer by Chancellor Angela Merkel of Germany toward what critics describe as a “fortress Europe” approach. |
| Speaking on Thursday in Berlin before flying to Brussels, Ms. Merkel told the lower house of Parliament that Europe faced a “historic task” in dealing with the influx of migrants and must work with Turkey, where more than two million Syrians have taken shelter, to slow the flow toward Europe. | Speaking on Thursday in Berlin before flying to Brussels, Ms. Merkel told the lower house of Parliament that Europe faced a “historic task” in dealing with the influx of migrants and must work with Turkey, where more than two million Syrians have taken shelter, to slow the flow toward Europe. |
| “Without a doubt Turkey plays a key role in this situation,” Ms. Merkel said, Reuters reported. “Most war refugees who come to Europe travel via Turkey. We won’t be able to order and stem the refugee movement without working together with Turkey.” | “Without a doubt Turkey plays a key role in this situation,” Ms. Merkel said, Reuters reported. “Most war refugees who come to Europe travel via Turkey. We won’t be able to order and stem the refugee movement without working together with Turkey.” |
| Under political pressure at home to curb an influx of asylum seekers to Germany, which now expects 1.5 million migrants in all this year, Ms. Merkel has increasingly looked to Turkey as a possible solution and is scheduled to travel there on Sunday to appeal for help from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan. | |
| That will follow a visit to Turkey on Wednesday and Thursday by Frans Timmermans, the deputy president of the European Commission, who has been also been pushing for a deal with Ankara on the migration issue. | That will follow a visit to Turkey on Wednesday and Thursday by Frans Timmermans, the deputy president of the European Commission, who has been also been pushing for a deal with Ankara on the migration issue. |
| Senior officials in Brussels, the headquarters of the union’s executive arm, have indicated that Turkey could get visa-free access to the European Union for its citizens if it finds a way to slow the flow of migrants across its territory. But granting Turks easy entry to Europe would be politically delicate at a time when most governments are scrambling for ways to limit, not expand, access to their countries. | Senior officials in Brussels, the headquarters of the union’s executive arm, have indicated that Turkey could get visa-free access to the European Union for its citizens if it finds a way to slow the flow of migrants across its territory. But granting Turks easy entry to Europe would be politically delicate at a time when most governments are scrambling for ways to limit, not expand, access to their countries. |
| Diplomats in Brussels say that one proposal would call for Turkey to set up camps where asylum seekers hoping for refuge in Europe would be registered and processed. | Diplomats in Brussels say that one proposal would call for Turkey to set up camps where asylum seekers hoping for refuge in Europe would be registered and processed. |
| The plan revives an idea put forward more than a decade ago by Tony Blair, when he was the British prime minister, for the establishment of migrant reception centers in Africa and the Middle East that would effectively move the processing of asylum claims offshore. | |
| Mr. Blair’s plan for “Regional Protection Areas,” which Amnesty International condemned as “inherently unlawful,” never got off the ground. But European governments are again groping for ways to separate people with a strong case for refugee status, like Syrians who are fleeing war, from those who want to move to Europe for economic reasons. | Mr. Blair’s plan for “Regional Protection Areas,” which Amnesty International condemned as “inherently unlawful,” never got off the ground. But European governments are again groping for ways to separate people with a strong case for refugee status, like Syrians who are fleeing war, from those who want to move to Europe for economic reasons. |
| Keeping asylum seekers outside Europe until their cases have been reviewed would also solve what has become a major headache: what to do with the tens of thousands of people in Europe whose asylum claims have been rejected but who refuse to leave. In the second quarter of this year, according to Frontex, the European Union border agency, only 43,000 of the 72,168 failed asylum candidates left as ordered. | Keeping asylum seekers outside Europe until their cases have been reviewed would also solve what has become a major headache: what to do with the tens of thousands of people in Europe whose asylum claims have been rejected but who refuse to leave. In the second quarter of this year, according to Frontex, the European Union border agency, only 43,000 of the 72,168 failed asylum candidates left as ordered. |
| European Union interior ministers last week agreed on tougher measures to ensure the swift deportation of migrants who do not qualify for refugee status, including the “use of detention as a legitimate measure of last resort.” | European Union interior ministers last week agreed on tougher measures to ensure the swift deportation of migrants who do not qualify for refugee status, including the “use of detention as a legitimate measure of last resort.” |
| Elizabeth Collett, director of the Migration Policy Institute Europe, a research group in Brussels, said the renewed emphasis on tougher border controls was in part “just political theater,” because leaders find it “much easier to agree on the need for strong borders” than on what to do with refugees once they arrive. | Elizabeth Collett, director of the Migration Policy Institute Europe, a research group in Brussels, said the renewed emphasis on tougher border controls was in part “just political theater,” because leaders find it “much easier to agree on the need for strong borders” than on what to do with refugees once they arrive. |
| “There is a need to demonstrate action, so there is a lot of talk without the details being worked through,” she said. | “There is a need to demonstrate action, so there is a lot of talk without the details being worked through,” she said. |
| Hungary, which faced strong criticism over the summer for using force to prevent asylum seekers from breaching a fence along its southern border, is now moving swiftly to beef up its own border security. Instead of waiting for the European Union to act, it has asked its neighbors to provide border guards to help its own forces, with the Czech Republic and Slovakia pledging a total of 200 officers. | Hungary, which faced strong criticism over the summer for using force to prevent asylum seekers from breaching a fence along its southern border, is now moving swiftly to beef up its own border security. Instead of waiting for the European Union to act, it has asked its neighbors to provide border guards to help its own forces, with the Czech Republic and Slovakia pledging a total of 200 officers. |
| In a letter to European Union leaders this week inviting them to the summit meeting, Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council, warned that Europe faces even “bigger waves” of asylum-seekers once winter passes. “The exceptionally easy access to Europe is one of the main pull factors,” said Mr. Tusk, a former Polish prime minister, calling for tighter controls. | |
| All the same, it is doubtful that Europe has the resources needed to bolster its external borders, particularly in Greece and Italy, through which 470,000 asylum-seekers have entered the union so far this year, according to Frontex. | All the same, it is doubtful that Europe has the resources needed to bolster its external borders, particularly in Greece and Italy, through which 470,000 asylum-seekers have entered the union so far this year, according to Frontex. |
| Frontex, which mostly coordinates and advises national border services, has no guards, vehicles, boats or aircraft of its own. Last week, it appealed to European Union member states to provide 775 border guards to assist mainly Italy and Greece in patrolling their borders and ensuring that all asylum-seekers are properly identified and registered. | |
| According to diplomats, however, countries have offered only a few dozen officers to help out. A Frontex spokeswoman said that the agency had received offers of “over 100 officers” but that exact numbers could not be made public until the end of the week. | According to diplomats, however, countries have offered only a few dozen officers to help out. A Frontex spokeswoman said that the agency had received offers of “over 100 officers” but that exact numbers could not be made public until the end of the week. |
| Europe has been hamstrung since the start in its response to the migrant crisis by the wide chasm between bold plans and modest actions. | Europe has been hamstrung since the start in its response to the migrant crisis by the wide chasm between bold plans and modest actions. |
| Five months after the union’s executive arm, the European Commission, announced a program to relocate 40,000 migrants from front-line states, a number later expanded to 160,000, only 19 Eritreans have so far been relocated, flying last week on a chartered jet from Italy to Sweden. | Five months after the union’s executive arm, the European Commission, announced a program to relocate 40,000 migrants from front-line states, a number later expanded to 160,000, only 19 Eritreans have so far been relocated, flying last week on a chartered jet from Italy to Sweden. |
| Despite pledges by leaders in September to increase funding for humanitarian aid for migrants, only a handful of countries have actually followed through. “The response is far below what is required,” Mr. Timmermans said this week. | |
| The big plans for Turkey could prove equally or even more difficult to get off the drawing board, especially as it has little incentive to slow a flow of migrants to Europe that so far has relieved its own burden. | |
| At the same time, some in Europe question the wisdom of reaching out to the increasingly authoritarian Mr. Erdogan. Turkey faces growing political unrest, particularly after the bombings in the capital, Ankara, over the weekend, the worst terrorist attack in the county’s modern history. | |
| In a report issued on Thursday, Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy, predicted that “Turkish elections, alongside a host of structural factors, will mean only limited progress is made on the E.U.’s key demand that Turkey stem migrant flows more effectively.” This, it added, would mean that the migrant crisis would continue to dominate the European political agenda in 2016. | In a report issued on Thursday, Eurasia Group, a political risk consultancy, predicted that “Turkish elections, alongside a host of structural factors, will mean only limited progress is made on the E.U.’s key demand that Turkey stem migrant flows more effectively.” This, it added, would mean that the migrant crisis would continue to dominate the European political agenda in 2016. |
| Mr. Tusk, in his letter to leaders, said Europe’s porous borders meant that the summit meeting must involve a discussion about whether to scrap the so-called Dublin system, which requires asylum seekers to apply for refugee status in the first European Union country reach, and look at ways to strengthen the bloc’s external borders. | Mr. Tusk, in his letter to leaders, said Europe’s porous borders meant that the summit meeting must involve a discussion about whether to scrap the so-called Dublin system, which requires asylum seekers to apply for refugee status in the first European Union country reach, and look at ways to strengthen the bloc’s external borders. |
| He said leaders also must determine the precise role of “hot spots,” a program of registration centers in Greece and Italy that has been so mired in confusion and disagreement that it still exists mainly on paper. | |
| “Even if the influx of refugees slows down during winter, we must be ready for spring and the threat of bigger waves flowing to Europe,” Mr. Tusk warned, adding that there could be “millions of potential new refugees.” | “Even if the influx of refugees slows down during winter, we must be ready for spring and the threat of bigger waves flowing to Europe,” Mr. Tusk warned, adding that there could be “millions of potential new refugees.” |