Bélgica quiere alojar a presos extranjeros en otros países como Kosovo
La ministra de Migración de Bélgica, Anneleen Van Bossuyt, está buscando "todas las soluciones posibles" para aumentar el número de inmigrantes irregulares retornados desde Bélgica, incluido el alquiler o la construcción de espacios penitenciarios en el extranjero para alojar presos extranjeros.
MÁS INFORMACIÓN : http://es.euronews.com/2026/01/09/belgica-busca-alojar-a-presos-extranjeros-en-otros-paises-como-kosovo-dice-la-ministra-a-e
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00:00Mi guest en 12 Minutes With is Annelien von Borsayt,
00:12Belgiung's Minister of Asylum, Migration and Social Integration.
00:16She's been in the role since last February
00:18and is responsible for one of the federal government's major priorities,
00:23getting tougher on migration.
00:25Minister, welcome. Thank you so much for joining us here.
00:27You're welcome. With pleasure.
00:28So, you're now tasked with implementing what your Prime Minister has described
00:34as the strictest, toughest migration policy in Belgium's history.
00:39What does that mean?
00:41Well, first of all, I think it's important that we change the trend
00:45that we have seen since many years in Belgium.
00:49I really inherited a crisis, just to show it with some figures.
00:55In 2024, in Belgium, we had 40,000 asylum applications and almost half of them, 15,000 of them, were secondary migration.
01:08So, people who already applied in another member state or even received protection in another member state.
01:13The cost for asylum in our country is 1 billion euros a year.
01:19And we see that the weight that it puts on our social welfare, on our housing, on our education system, on our safety, it has become too much.
01:30A major focus for you is cutting on the number of asylum claims, including by discouraging people from coming here and seeking asylum.
01:42Is it right to be targeting those people who are potentially fleeing oppressive regimes or war and conflict?
01:49Yeah, but as I showed with the numbers I just mentioned, so over the 40,000 applications, 15,000 of them were from people who already had protection in another member state
02:03or applied for asylum in another member state, so then you see that we can't continue to have this trend in Belgium.
02:10We were too long the country of milk and honey, our social welfare system, but also on family reunification.
02:20So, that's why immediately we took some measures.
02:24It was on the one hand, we decided to no longer give reception to people who already have protection in another member state.
02:33And secondly, also we go very much stricter on family reunification by having a higher income level that we demand from people.
02:43And on those asylum seekers arriving here, there has been a lot of criticism in recent years that the system of housing asylum seekers is inhumane,
02:54it's not respecting basic fundamental rights, and also criticism that it's engineering a homelessness crisis by pushing people out on the streets.
03:02There was a case recently in October where an Afghan family, a court, found that Belgium had failed to provide refuge for them and that they were sleeping on the streets.
03:11There are many, many other examples.
03:13Are you taking measures to make sure that this situation is improved?
03:18Yeah, the measures we are taking are literally to avoid these kind of situations.
03:26So, the families that we are now told sometimes in the media that have to sleep on the street,
03:32it concerns families who already have protection in another member state.
03:36Is it right to let those sleep on the streets?
03:38But they don't have to sleep on the street.
03:40They have protection in another member state, so they decided to continue to travel towards another member state, in this case Belgium.
03:48But then they can have reception in a return center in Belgium to return to the country where they have protection,
03:56but they don't come to these return centers.
03:58So, that's the second time that they decide to not have the possibilities that are offered, but as of today, no person who has the right on reception has to sleep on the streets in Belgium.
04:13And that's a big difference with the situation that we have seen in the former years.
04:17There have, however, been several court rulings internationally and nationally against the failure, historical failures as well, to provide refuge protection for these people.
04:29Do you accept that there has been irregularities, legally speaking, in the way that this policy has been carried out?
04:37And is that acceptable to you?
04:38Well, we don't do anything that we can't do according to European law.
04:43When it concerns the fines for convictions, I indeed decided not to pay them.
04:51And why?
04:52Because I have to work with taxpayers' money.
04:56I can only spend it one time.
04:59And so I can do two things.
05:01Either I spend the money on paying the fines and then we don't have any change in our policy.
05:07Or I don't pay the fines, but I use this money to change our policy and to have a future-proof solution so that in the end we don't have to pay any fines anymore.
05:21And for me, it's clear, I've chosen for the second way.
05:25So you will not pay those fines?
05:27And you're not afraid that that will set a dangerous precedent?
05:30Well, I'm not the first one who doesn't pay the fines.
05:34I want to move on because we talk about returns.
05:38This is also a big European priority.
05:41There are more than 100,000 people, I believe, here in Belgium without the rights to be here illegally.
05:48But the amount of returns is still relatively low.
05:53What do you need in order to be able to allow people who do not have the right to stay here to return to their home countries?
06:01Do you need support from Brussels on this?
06:03Well, I can say that it's not a Belgian challenge.
06:07It's really like a European challenge because we see that also at European level only one in five people who have to return to their home country returns.
06:17So what do we do at national level?
06:20We have decided that we will have a whole-of-government approach.
06:24So what do we mean by that?
06:25It's that we will relate development aid with the way in which the countries of origin take back their nationals, for example.
06:35So they have to take back in order to receive development aid.
06:38For example, indeed, also visa policy can be linked to it.
06:43So that's what we mean by the whole-of-government approach.
06:46But I'm convinced of the fact that if we would do that at European level, we have much more leverage at European level towards the countries of origin to use.
06:59And that's why we really need this European cooperation.
07:03And do you see political appetite amongst your European counterparts for this?
07:07Of course, I see it.
07:09We see that spirits are changing also at European level.
07:13The Danish presidency has done very, very good work to move forward on this topic, on the return hubs, for example, and other possible solutions.
07:23So we see that also at European level, things are moving forward.
07:29And on the return hubs, briefly, because you were recently on a mission to Albania and Kosovo for a solution to overcrowded prisons in Belgium.
07:39Could renting or building prison space or other certain camps in third countries be a solution for Belgium?
07:47Yeah, we are looking at every possible solution that we can have to have a higher return rate.
07:58That's one of the possibilities that we are looking into together with the Minister of Justice.
08:04And in the Western Balkans specifically, you see this as a potential partner?
08:09We have been there.
08:11We have spoken with the responsible ministers.
08:13But maybe in the future, there will also be other possibilities or countries.
08:20So what we are looking for with the prison capacity in other countries, it's about for people who are now in our prisons and who should be and who we want to place in a prison, for example, in another country.
08:38With Albania, it was specifically on Albanians who are in our prisons so that they would have their sentence in Albania.
08:47For Kosovo, it was for people who are in illegal stay in Belgium but in our prisons because one out of three people who are in our prisons are people in irregular stay, illegal stay.
08:58So you're not considering return hubs for people here in an irregular situation but have not committed crimes?
09:05That's where we are looking at the European level with the return regulation and the possibility for return hubs.
09:12I think there, there can be a possibility where we look at the European level.
09:16And very briefly, on returns as well, the situation of Afghans here.
09:21You've asked the EU for help in striking a deal with the Taliban in order to facilitate the returns of Afghan nationals here irregularly.
09:30Have you made progress on that?
09:33Well, it's a very big problem.
09:34It's a problem of the fact that a lot of Afghan people come to Belgium, apply for asylum but don't get protection.
09:43But then they receive an order to leave the territory.
09:47But there it ends.
09:48We can't force, have any forced returns.
09:51Why?
09:52Because you are dependent of the country of origin for ID documents, for example.
09:58So we are in a limbo at the moment.
10:01So I wrote a letter to the European commissioner.
10:04It was subscribed by 20 other member states.
10:07So I think the signal is very clear.
10:10The commission has told us that we will take steps.
10:13We are looking now with the European commission how we can move forward on this subject.
10:19But if there were a deal with the Taliban in order to facilitate these kind of returns,
10:26would you be willing to send women and children back to Taliban rule?
10:30Yeah, but that's something that is always said.
10:34But we are not sending back people who got protection in our country.
10:39And I can be quite reassured that women who fleed for the Taliban regime won't be sent back because they will be the persons who got protection.
10:49Final question.
10:51On the European level, we have this new pact on migration that is meant to enter into force in June this year.
10:57Do you think it's going to make a difference?
10:58Well, I hope it will make a difference.
11:01But the success of the pact will depend on the way in which countries are getting into their responsibilities that are in the pact.
11:12And I think in Belgium we have done more than our fair share.
11:16The fair share for Belgium is around 3.5 percentage.
11:20We were until now in the top five of asylum applications in Europe.
11:27So we have done more than our part.
11:29So that's why we choose to pay instead of receiving people.
11:35Are you concerned that countries such as Hungary and Slovakia could just flout the rules and completely undermine the whole thing?
11:41Well, I won't decide for other countries.
11:43I know what we will be doing.
11:44I've always told also to the European Commission that Belgium will be a loyal partner.
11:49So now we will see in practice how we will move forward.
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