The European Union is considering new ways to punish countries that fail to stop or take back their citizens trying to reach Europe, a key official told journalists Monday, declining to rule out cuts to development assistance for those that fail to meet expectations.
“We have to be a bit smarter in combining positive incentives and let's call it negative incentives,” Swedish Ambassador to the EU Lars Danielsson said at a press briefing in Brussels.
Sweden holds the rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union for the first half of 2023, allowing it to set the agenda for meetings of member states and to seek compromises on thorny topics, including migration. The commission launched its New Pact on Migration and Asylum back in 2020, the latest attempt to reach an EU-wide plan for dealing with a topic that has roiled the continent’s politics for years.
About the author
Vince Chadwickvchadw
Vince Chadwick is a contributing reporter at Devex. A law graduate from Melbourne, Australia, he was social affairs reporter for The Age newspaper, before covering breaking news, the arts, and public policy across Europe, including as a reporter and editor at POLITICO Europe. He was long-listed for International Journalist of the Year at the 2023 One World Media Awards.
