Request nine EU countries: Deportation of criminals must be easier!

Request nine EU countries: Deportation of criminals must be easier!

Österreich, Land - nine EU member states have signed an important letter that demands a reinterpretation of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) by European courts. This initiative comes from Italy and Denmark and was supported by countries like Austria, which is represented by Chancellor Christian Stocker (ÖVP). The aim of this requirement is to simplify the deportation of foreign criminals and to create more national scope for the designation of criminal foreigners, especially in the event of severe offenses, such as violent or drug crime. The signatories criticize that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) in many cases interprets the ECHR "too far", which restricts the ability of the states to protect their population. This reports Our means of Europe .

The Austrian EU MP Petra Steger welcomes this step, but emphasizes that the ÖVP had a different attitude in the past. She criticized the party sharply because it had previously acted under the leadership of Beate Meinl-Reisinger (NEOS), who described a reinterpretation as a "bullshit politics" in 2022. Steger urges that politics should create a clear legal framework for an effective asylum policy. In her function in the Committee on Civil Freedoms, Justice and Interior (Libe), she sees the need that the ECHR does not become a blockade for the necessary deportations of illegal immigrants.

demands for a reinterpretation

The letter from the nine EU countries emphasized that it is not about changing the text of the ECHR, but about their judicial interpretation. The signatories complain that the ECHR prevents deportation in the past, as in the case of criminals from Somalia, Eritrea or India, and thus endangered the national interests of the federal states. Italy's Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni also emphasized the importance of a political debate about the ECHR in the context of migration, which underlines the urgency of these topics.

The nine signing countries also include Italy, Denmark, Belgium, Czech Republic, Poland and the Baltic States. However, the support for this initiative is not sufficient to actually make a change to the ECHR, emphasizes The press . In addition, the European Council will be convinced of this project in June to gain the necessary support.

the rule of law and human rights

While the demand for a easier deportation of delinquent foreigners occurs, the legal foundation of the ECHR remains unaffected. This stipulates in its principles that contracting states may not show refugees if their lives or freedom is threatened. These threats can result from different circumstances, including breed, religion or political beliefs. It is recommended by experts to replace the term "breed" with other formulations in order to present racist threats more clearly, without referring to biologically determined "races", such as Institute for Human Rights Notice.

The current discussion about the reinterpretation of the ECHR demands a sensitive weighing up between national sovereignty and the basic human rights, which must be treated in a detail at both a political and legal level.