| Last week’s agreement between the UK and Austria to work together on ‘third country’ asylum schemes is the latest confirmation that the EU’s southern borders extend well beyond the Mediterranean Sea. The link up with London makes Austria the first EU country to commit to outsourcing asylum claims. Austria’s scheme will differ from the UK’s £100 million arrangement to fly asylum seekers to Kigali for their claims to be processed, as migrants deported to Rwanda will be allowed to return to Austria if their asylum applications are successful. But the idea is not new, nor did Brexit Britain mint it. Several EU countries, starting with Denmark, have been mulling over how to outsource asylum claims. The European Commission, in striking multi-million euro ‘cash for migrant control’ deals with Turkey, Tunisia, and now Egypt, has also bought into the concept. Germany, long regarded as among the most progressive European governments on migration, has indicated that it will outsource the screening of asylum claims. On Monday, Italy and Albania signed an agreement to process up to 36,000 asylum seekers a year, picked up by Italian vessels in the Mediterranean, in the EU candidate country, much to the shock of many politicians and the general public. Consequently, reporters have every right to be bemused by the Commission’s insistence that the plans of Austria – or, indeed, any other EU member – to offshore asylum to a third country is not possible under EU law. “Currently, EU asylum law applies only to applications made on the territory of a member state but not outside,” a Commission spokesperson told reporters on Monday (7 November). EU governments can take these words with a pinch of salt. | 