What the new Commission means for undocumented migrants

This blog outlines key tasks linked to migration and migrants as included in mission letters sent by the President of the European Commission to relevant Commissioner-designates.

Border and migration management

Once again, migration is embedded in a portfolio that is essentially centred around security, namely the  Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration. Such a security approach is evident in goals around doubling Europol’s staff and increasing its powers, tripling Frontex’ border guards, and “securing” the EU’s borders overall. This Commissioner would also report to the High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy.

The mission letter tasks the new Commissioner with implementing the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, which human rights organisations have long criticised for increasing detention, lowering essential safeguards for those who come to Europe seeking safety or livelihood and overall being unworkable and harmful.

Many of the Commissioner-designates’ goals are linked to strengthening the borders, from the digitalisation of border management and the implementation of connections between large-scale migration databases, to further leveraging visa policy for pursuing migration deterrence objectives. The latter is already being used by the EU as a bargaining chip to force third countries into facilitating deportations of their nationals. The focus on deportations is further highlighted by the announcement of a “new common approach to the return of irregular migrants” which is meant to speed up deportation procedures.

The mission letter asks the new Commissioner to respond to “hybrid attacks” and the “instrumentalisation of migrants”, a concept that the EU uses for cases when a third country is accused of pushing people to the EU’s borders for political reasons. This concept has already been invoked by member states in recent years to push people back and shirk international obligations at the Poland-Belarus border and more recently at the Finland-Russia border. The idea of migrants-as-a-threat is further shared in the portfolio of the new Vice President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, who is called on to address the “weaponisation of people” and to pursue “strong external borders”.

The implementation of the new Schengen Borders Code, another top priority for the migration portfolio, is also cause for concern, as its 2024 revision validates in practice racial profiling in internal border checks to detect people in an irregular situation.

Irregular migration and migrant smuggling are largely seen as threats to fight with sanctions and criminalisation, instead of realities produced by global inequalities and repressive policies to address with support for people to move and settle in safety and dignity. References to the “fight against smugglers” and “innovative operational solutions to counter irregular migration” illustrate this approach.

A potentially promising opening is found in reference to search and rescue. The mission letter tasks the Commissioner-designate with a “stronger coordination of rescue operations” but this is coupled with “increased surveillance capabilities for Frontex”, an agency that has come under scrutiny for complicity in human rights violations multiple times.

Mediterranean

A new Commissioner for the Mediterranean, supported by a newly created Directorate-General for the Mediterranean, is expected to oversee deals with Mediterranean countries initiated under Von der Leyen I and prioritise cooperation on border control and anti-smuggling as part of the external aspects of EU migration policy. Yet this mission letter does not mention ways to allow people from the Mediterranean region to move and settle in safety and dignity in Europe.

The mission letter tasks the new Commissioner with developing a new Pact for the Mediterranean, in coordination with the High Representative for Foreign Affairs,which will largely focus on economic, security and migration issues.

Previous deals with Tunisia and Egypt are expected to be used as a model for these forms of cooperation. Human rights organisations like Amnesty International already highlighted in the context of the EU-Tunisia deal how such approach focuses on policies and funding that promote a punitive approach to migration and outsource border controls and responsibilities to third countries, in complete disregard of human rights obligations. In this contest, humanitarian and development policies become instrumental to pursue migration deterrence objectives.

Labour migration and labour rights

Labour migration is largely dealt with under the migration portfolio.

The letter asks the new Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration to “where necessary, review the rules on preventing exploitation of migrant workers with irregular status”. This is a welcome and important commitment but will only be a step forward if it means prioritising the rights of migrant workers over immigration control and exploring how to enable undocumented workers to file complaints against their employers without fear of deportation under existing complaints mechanisms.

Regular migration (called “legal migration” in the mission letter) is only mentioned in relation to refugees’ “integration” in the labour market (but quickly coupled with stepping up deportations), and in relation to labour migration pathways for those who have the “right skills” to match Europe’s needs. Similar language was included in the mission letter of the Executive Vice-President for People, Skills and Preparedness.

This repeats the utilitarian approach to migrant workers of the previous Commission and betrays the EU’s increasingly wildly lopsided enforcement and security approach to migration, which pays little attention to decent pathways and inclusion measures most needed.

On labour rights, the mission letter to the Vice-President for People, Skills and Preparedness provides some promising openings, given EU labour standards are generally applicable to undocumented workers too. The new Vice-President is tasked with developing a Quality Jobs Roadmap which would support fair wages, high standards of health and safety and good working conditions, as well as improving Europe’s approach to occupational health and safety. But overall European trade unions have denounced the removal of a dedicated commissioner for jobs and social rights as a concerning deprioritisation of workers’ rights.

Equality

The equality portfolio no longer stands alone, but is combined with a mission on Preparedness and Crisis Management (Commissioner for Preparedness and Crisis Management; Equality). This is a step backward as it shows a reduced political emphasis and capacity to work on equality.  

The mission letter tasks the new Commissioner with protecting “minorities” and proposing new equality strategies, including on gender equality and anti-racism, which might provide opportunities to include safeguards for undocumented people too.

Anti-poverty and inclusion

The President of the European Commission tasked the new College to tackle poverty, soaring housing costs and energy prices – all of which affect undocumented people in particular. The Executive Vice-President-designate for People, Skills and Preparedness will have to lead the work on a first-ever EU-wide Anti-Poverty Strategy and strengthen the Child Guarantee, a framework for combatting social exclusion of children, including those who are undocumented. The next five years will also see the development of a European Affordable Housing Plan and support to member states to develop social housing.

But no mention is being made of the European Platform on Combating Homelessness, established under the previous Commission, which aims to eradicate poverty by 2030. Nor are health inequities ever mentioned in any mission letter.

Children

Key policies relevant for undocumented children are largely split between the Commissioner for Intergenerational Fairness, Youth, Culture and Sport and the Vice President for People, Skills and Preparedness. The former is tasked with further implementing the EU Strategy on the Rights of the Child, a policy framework that promotes participation and rights of children. The latter is tasked with strengthening the European Child Guarantee, a key instrument in tackling childhood poverty, including those that are undocumented.

Civic space and human rights

Missions concerning fundamental rights and civic space are largely assigned to the new Commissioner for Democracy, Justice, and the Rule of Law. This mandate is being asked to establish a Civil Society Platform to enhance civil dialogue, and to strengthen the “protection of civil society, activist and human rights defenders”, something which we will follow closely as solidarity with migrants and migration-related civic spaces are increasingly criminalised across Europe.

On fundamental rights, the Commissioner-designate is tasked with monitoring (not ensuring) the application of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, and with acceding to the European Convention on Human Rights, which can be an important tool to advance the rights of undocumented people.

Funding

All the mentioned policies and portfolios will be supported by a new long-term EU budget, which the Commissioner-designate for Budget, Anti-Fraud and Administration is tasked to develop in cooperation with the entire College. The mission letter positively makes a strong commitment to ensure that EU funds are protected against rule of law breaches. But it does not refer to the application of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights in EU funds, a clear commitment made by the past European Commission.

Participatory policy-making

A general positive is von der Leyen’s commitment to bringing EU institutions closer to the people living in the EU. She tasks most of the Commissioner-designates, including those working on migration and poverty alleviation, with meeting young people on an annual basis. She also tasked her College with setting up a President’s Youth Advisory Board, a European Citizens’ Panel and a Civil Society Platform, the latter to support more systematic civil dialogue and better protect civil society, activists and human rights defenders. These spaces must include people with diverse lives and backgrounds – including people with lived experience of migration and migration procedures.

Conclusion

These mission letters largely reflect the EU’s overall approach to migration as a threat to fight, with renewed emphasis being put on strengthening borders, increasing surveillance and enforcement capacities, stepping up repression to address migrant smuggling, and speeding up deportations.

Little to no attention is paid to systems and policies that would allow people to move, settle and work in Europe in safety and dignity. For the most part, marginalised groups like people with a migrant background are not mentioned at all.

Potential – and limited – openings essentially relate to anti-poverty strategies, children’s rights, equality strategies and preventing exploitation of migrant workers. But political will – and a strong civil society – will be needed to make sure potential openings will translate into meaningful change on the ground.