Contribution of the Communist Party of Sweden

Contribution of the Communist Party of Sweden to the European Communist Action teleconference

The Communists of Europe against the EU's Pact on Migration and Asylum

Dear comrades,

The new EU Pact on Migration and Asylum represents an escalation of the already deeply inhumane measures that the EU takes against refugees and migrants.The Mediterranean has become Fortress Europa's moat and a graveyard for thousands upon thousands of migrants and refugees. As the EU steps up its measures to prevent migrants from entering via the Mediterranean, desperate people attempt even more dangerous routes, such as the one from Africa to Gran Canaria.

The stated goal of the new migration pact is to reduce the number of migrants and refugees entering the EU. The sped up asylum processes are not made more efficient to lessen the suffering of refugees living in insecurity about their future, but to increase the rate of asylum application denials. Any pretense of equality before the law is thrown out the window with different treatment of asylum seekers based on their country of origin. Refugees from countries with less than 20% rates of granted asylum will be subject to the new mandatory border procedure, just like applicants who are perceived as a threat to national security, among others. The asylum and return border procedure should have a duration of no more than six monthsand those subjected to it are treated as if they have not yet entered the territory of an EU- member country.

We have earlier seen the EU make deals with Tunisia and Libya to contain migrants and refugees heading for Europe, in both cases with frightful and inhumane results. In parallel with the new EU mandatory border procedure, Italy has struck a deal with Albania to "offshore"their refugees, with 16 Egyptian and Bangladeshi men already transported to Albania, where their asylum application will be processed, and where they probably will remain. Italy will finance and build a deportation center, an asylum administration center and a prison in Albania. That Italy constructs something reminiscent of a concentration camp in Albania, to keep out and scare off migrants and refugees, is nothing that causes consternation among other European governments or the EU leadership. British Labour Prime Minister Keith Starmer has even offered monetary support for Italy's strategy against migration, while President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, sees Italy's deal with Albania as something to learn from.

In Sweden, Migration Minister Maria Malmer Stenergard of the right-wing Moderate Party has voiced her approval of measures such as those that Italy has brought into force. The right-wing coalition government, supported by the far-right nationalistic Sweden Democrats, aims to reduce the rights of asylum seekers to the absolute legal minimum possible, and harsher measures against migration and refugees are not only supported by the right wing, but also the Social Democratic Party, nominally in opposition in parliament.

A frightening development is the use of migrants as a form of hybrid warfare, as for example seen on the border of Poland and Belarus, where migrants are used like pawns in an imperialist game of chess. The Polish government uses this as a justification to, as they claim, temporarily suspend the right to asylum. The Swedish Prime Minister, Ulf Kristersson of the ModerateParty, has voiced his support for this move by the Polish government, saying that faced with this situation his government would do the same. The Prime Minister has also stated that in this context the right to asylum must be reviewed in the context of a changed geopolitical situation.

It is clear that the right to asylum is threatened, and not only through the enactment of new, stricter and more repressive laws, but also through slow moving, inefficient and even malicious bureaucracies, causing asylum applications to be handled incorrectly. Meanwhile migrants and refugees who survive the dangerous journey to the EU will be faced with even worse treatment and harsher repression than before.

We can never accept that desperate people, fleeing war and poverty, do not get the help that they need. We can never accept that people who seek out better lives, because they have been born into poverty, are barred from doing so. We can never accept that migrants and refugees are used as scapegoats for the crises that are inherent to capitalism. That they are used to split the working class and to turn the people's discontent and frustration against these people who have no means to defend themselves, instead of against the governments and corporations which create this world of exploitation and misery.

Our weapons, against these machinations of capital, are solidarity and popular mobilization which includes migrants, refugees and our countries' working class. For solidarity between those who must flee their homes, and those who do not need to. For solidarity between all working people who are exploited. Class solidarity rises above any national border. The struggle for the working class is also the struggle for human dignity and all mankind. The struggle for migrants and refugees is also the struggle for our own humanity.