EU leaders demand stricter migration proposals by December

EU leaders have called on the European Commission to present tightened migration proposals by the December summit. The goal is to better protect the EU's external borders against the use of migrants as a tool for political or geopolitical pressure.

During a two-day summit in Brussels, leaders engaged in intense discussions regarding national policies. Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten cited the situation in the Spanish enclave of Ceuta, where approximately 80,000 migrants entered from Morocco, as well as migration crossings from Belarus into Poland, as justifications for stricter measures.

Internal tensions surfaced during the talks. Spain faced criticism from Denmark, Italy, and Poland regarding its decision to grant residency to hundreds of thousands of illegal migrants, a move critics argue encourages illegal migration. Conversely, Italy received verbal criticism for its refusal to accept asylum seekers arriving via Italian territory, despite EU regulations requiring such transfers.