EU leaders to discuss stricter measures to curb arrivals of asylum seekers

European Union leaders are to discuss stricter laws to curb migration following a recent surge in support for the extreme right.

While the conflicts in Gaza, Lebanon and Ukraine are on the agenda at the summit on Thursday in Brussels, a key topic will be how to deal with irregular migrants arriving in the 27-nation bloc by land from the east and by sea from the south.

This is seen by most EU governments as a political and security risk that is driving the rise of populist and far-right parties and influencing elections.

EU Council President Charles Michel, in an invitation letter to EU leaders, wrote,  “We will … focus on concrete measures to prevent irregular migration including strengthened control of our external borders, enhanced partnerships and reinforced return policies.”

Irregular migrants and refugees arriving in Europe last year numbered less than a third of the one million seen during the migration crisis in 2015. In the first nine months of this year, the number fell even more to 166,000, data from the EU’s Frontex border agency showed.But the number of people arriving at the EU’s border with Belarus surged 192 percent year on year in January-September to 13,195 and the number of arrivals in the Spanish Canary Islands off the western coast of Africa doubled to 30,616, Frontex said.

Poland, which has presidential elections due in May, wants to temporarily suspend asylum rights for people crossing over from Russian ally Belarus, in a move many see as a violation of the EU’s charter of fundamental rights.

It said it draws its inspiration from Finland, which, faced with migrants pushed across the border from Russia

, suspended such asylum rights in July.