The five most controversial points of the EU's 'Meloni law'

BrusselsThe European Union went from looking with suspicion at the arrival of Giorgia Meloni to power to embracing her discourse and her measures against immigrants living in the community bloc. The last step that has confirmed this plot twist in the European institutions is the migration reform agreed this week, which in several aspects is inspired by the policies of the Italian prime minister, especially the camps in third countries to deport migrants living in the EU irregularly. This is a regulation that has caused a lot of controversy among NGOs and center-left and left-wing parties in Europe. Let's review the most controversial points of the new law.

Detention centers

Italian and British justice have already overturned attemptsThe expert also questions the efficiency of these measures and advocates for putting more effort into reducing arrivals, which have already decreased "drastically." "Deportations will continue to be very complicated. [...] Now only a little more than 20% of those planned are executed," she points out. Furthermore, Garcés assures that European regulations raise legal doubts – as the European Commission defended until a few years ago – and recalls that Italian and British justice have already overturned the attempts by the governments of Italy and the United Kingdom to implement these migrant centers. Nevertheless, there is already a group of EU countries – Austria, Denmark, and Greece, among others – that intend to follow Meloni's steps.

The duration of detentions

Diplomatic sources from various member states admit to ARA that one of the most discussed points is the amount of time a person is allowed to be detained in camps outside the European Union. Although some countries, such as Spain, were pushing for the duration to be six months or a year at most, the European bloc has finally agreed that it will be 24 months and, furthermore, it can be postponed indefinitely every six months. "Indefinite detention ceases to be a last resort measure, and this directly clashes with the requirements and needs for detention," points out Olivia Sundberg, head of migration and asylum in the EU for Amnesty International, in a conversation with this newspaper.

The insecurity of minors

Another of the points most discussed in the negotiations is the extent to which minors are included in the hardening of the EU's migration policies. "They are hardly excluded from anything," criticizes Sundberg. Specifically, minors can be detained and deported to countries outside the European bloc with which Brussels has an agreement. The only exception is that member states will not be able to send and detain unaccompanied minors in camps in third countries.

The list of 'safe' countries

The European Union also expands the list of countries it considers safe and, therefore, legalizes the deportation of immigrants living irregularly in European member states. Brussels has already closed agreements with some of these third partners, such as Egypt or Tunisia, and migrants can be sent there, even if they are originally from other areas and have no emotional or family ties to these countries. Both Garcés and Sundberg criticize that there are no guarantees that these countries will respect humanitarian and international law, and recall that there have already been cases in the past where mistreatment of migrants has been reported.

Raids against immigrants

The new regulations also open the door for member states to carry out raids to locate immigrants living irregularly in the EU or migrants with deportation orders. In this way, Sundberg warns that "Europe is increasingly resembling the United States" in migratory matters, and that these regulations "open the door to practices like those of the ICE" of the Donald Trump administration. Thus, the authorities of the European member states will be able to investigate, and seize documents and personal belongings of those they consider to be irregular immigrants. "I don't want to equate it 100% to what happens in the United States, but discriminatory practices can be carried out," warns the spokesperson for Amnesty International.