Von der Leyen urges broader Frontex powers and higher deportation rate
The European Commission president also called for an emergency framework to respond when migration is used as a weapon.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has urged EU leaders to strengthen the bloc’s response to illegal migration, proposing greater authority for border agency Frontex and an increase in the deportation rate. She set out the measures in a letter ahead of a European Council summit in Brussels.
Her proposals also include a framework for emergency action when migration is weaponised. Von der Leyen argued that protecting external borders must not be compromised and that neither states nor non-state actors should be allowed to use EU rules or values to destabilise the bloc.
The letter went to leaders of all 27 EU member countries and will help shape the summit’s migration discussion on its second day. It follows a summer migration crisis in Spain’s exclave of Ceuta, where around 70,000 migrants arrived from Morocco.
