Europe's biggest party wants to rewrite the Refugee Convention
11 April 2025
The centre-right European People's Party (EPP) – the largest in the European Parliament – wants to revise the 1951 Refugee Convention, the cornerstone of international refugee law. In a new migration paper, the party proposes tougher rules, such as making forced returns a "credible option" and restricting voluntary departures when they hinder enforcement.
It calls for permanent bans on individuals deemed security threats, giving more power to Europe's border agency Frontex to directly organise return operations with third countries. The paper also revives the idea of offshore "disembarkation platforms" – similar to what Italy tried (and failed) to establish in Albania – where asylum claims would first be processed outside the EU.
At stake is the principle of non-refoulement, which forbids sending people back to places where they risk serious harm. The EPP argues that today's asylum rules no longer reflect the reality of complex migration flows. Their proposal isn't EU law yet. But with a Frontex overhaul due in 2026 and asylum reform still contested, the EU's biggest party – with the far right breathing down its neck – is making it clear where it wants migration policy to go next.
 | Thibault Krause Trying to undermine the Refugee Convention is a bold and somewhat questionable move. Changing the convention itself is extremely unlikely, as it would require global consensus. More likely is an attempt to reinterpret, limit, or work around it through European law. Turning these proposals into EU legislation won't be easy: with the Social Democrats and Greens unlikely to support them, majorities in parliament are slim, and the EPP wants to avoid teaming up with the far right. This feels more like virtue-signalling than a realistic plan – at least for now. |
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