After the Brussels attack: Calls for a tougher EU migration policy

Following the deadly attack on two Swedish football fans in Brussels, Belgian Prime Minister Alexander De Croo and fellow Swede Ulf Kristersson called for a tougher European immigration policy. Christerson said at a joint ceremony between the heads of the two governments in Brussels today: “We must protect our European borders.”

De Croo said faster deportations were “something we have to address”. He spoke in favor of a “coordinated European return policy”. The EU must also quickly adopt the planned migration pact and improve controls at the EU’s external borders.

Better exchange of required information

European authorities also need to be able to share information better, Christerson said. According to the Swedish Migration Agency, the perpetrator served a prison sentence in Sweden between 2012 and 2014. “This type of information would have been useful for the evaluation in Belgium,” Christerson said.

According to authorities, the 45-year-old Tunisian, who shot two people and wounded two others on Monday, was residing illegally in Belgium after his asylum application was rejected.

The EU Parliament and member states are currently negotiating reform of European asylum law. The Crisis Regulation stipulates, among other things, that significantly tougher measures will be taken if a particularly large number of people seeking protection threatens to overburden the asylum system. The reform, which has been in discussion since 2015, is supposed to be approved by the European elections in June.