Italian PM says crisis has outgrown international laws written for a different era
Giorgia Meloni is driving a push in the EU to transform migration laws - Remo Casilli/Reuters
Giorgia Meloni has told EU leaders to prepare for a first political debate on reforming the European Convention on Human Rights in the “coming months”, in what would be a major step forward towards changing the international rules on migration.
The Italian prime minister spoke to heads of state and government before a European Council summit meeting in Brussels on Thursday morning.
The Telegraph understands she set out a plan to reform the ECHR so that it can meet modern-day challenges over illegal immigration, such as people smuggling gangs.
It should lead to a first political debate on reforms in the Council of Europe, which is based in Strasbourg and is not an EU body but a larger human rights watchdog.
The roadmap was drawn up in coordination with Alain Berset, the secretary general of the Council of Europe, she told leaders from Denmark, the Netherlands, Germany, the European Commission, Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Germany, Greece, Latvia, Malta, Poland and Sweden.
They agreed that senior officials would meet in Rome on Nov 5 to continue discussing international conventions and illegal migration.
“Prime minister Meloni provided an update on the work in progress on how the international conventions match the challenges of irregular migration and on upcoming initiatives,” an Italian government spokesperson said.
“The leaders agreed to continue to maintain close cooperation not only within the EU and the Council of Europe, but also, more generally, in various international contexts in order to promote more effectively the European approach to the orderly management of migration flows.”
Migrants queue up on the Italian island of Lampedusa - David Rose
The European Court of Human Rights is part of the Council of Europe and was set up to enforce the ECHR, which has been criticised for tying governments’ hands on illegal immigration.
Sir Keir Starmer has vowed the UK will never leave the ECHR, despite calls from the Tories and Reform UK to quit it, but he does want to restrict the ways it is used to fight deportations.
Nearly 37,000 migrants arrived in the UK by small boats this year, more than the total for the whole of 2024, Home Office figures showed on Thursday.
The Prime Minister argues, like Ms Meloni, that mass migration is a far greater problem now than it was when the international laws were drafted after the Second World War.
“We need to look again at the interpretation of some of these provisions, not tear them down,” he said earlier this month.
Since his election last year, Sir Keir has held talks on illegal migration with Ms Meloni and Mette Frederiksen, the Danish prime minister.
Ms Frederiksen, a Left-wing leader who defeated a surge in support for Right-wing parties with a tough migration policy, chaired the meeting in Brussels and also wants ECHR reform.
Before the meeting in Brussels, Ms Meloni told the Italian parliament that the breakfast meeting would help find “innovative solutions” to illegal migration.
“It will be an opportunity to take stock of the issue of international conventions and the need to ensure that their implementation allows us to address the challenges of modern irregular migration – challenges that were unthinkable when those conventions were written, and signed by Italy,” the hard-Right leader said.
“On this occasion, we will propose to our partners a roadmap that, in cooperation with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Mr Berset, should lead in the coming months to an initial political debate on the topic in Strasbourg.”
Ms Meloni’s Albania plan, where migrants picked up in the Mediterranean would be processed in non-EU Albania, has been mired in legal difficulties.
Denmark has an agreement with Rwanda to process asylum seekers, but the deal is on hold amid concerns over possible legal barriers, including the ECHR.
The Netherlands is also preparing to send failed asylum seekers to Uganda in a plan that is expected to face legal challenges.
In her recent speech to the UN General Assembly, Ms Meloni took aim at so-called activist judges.
“These rules were established at a time when mass irregular migration did not exist and nor did human traffickers,” she said in New York.
“These conventions are no longer current in this context and, when they are interpreted in an ideological and unidirectional way by politicised judges, they end up trampling on the law, rather than upholding it.”
Italy, Denmark and the Netherlands have made the informal talks on migration a fixture of European Council summits.
Fourteen EU states, including Germany, Poland, Austria and Hungary, have taken part in meetings of the “migration hawks”, as they are called in Brussels.
Ms Meloni has already led a successful push in Brussels to reform migration laws to make it easier to deport failed asylum seekers and house them in camps outside the EU.
In the first eight months of this year, 112,000 people crossed illegally into Europe, down 21 per cent from 2024 and 52 per cent from the same period in 2023. The EU has signed return deals with non-EU countries, while its member states have cracked down on illegal immigration and moved to speed up deportations of failed asylum seekers.
All 27 EU member states, as well as the UK, belong to the 46-state Council of Europe and are signatories to the ECHR.
A Council of Europe spokesman told The Telegraph: “Secretary General Alain Berset acknowledges prime minister Meloni’s outreach. He stresses that political dialogue and collaboration within the Council of Europe is the right method to addressing migration on our continent. And he reaffirms the importance of ensuring the integrity of the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights.”
Sir Keir Starmer has vowed the UK will never leave the ECHR, despite calls from the Tories and Reform UK to quit it, but he does want to restrict the ways it is used to fight deportations.
A government spokesman told The Telegraph they backed Ms Meloni’s push for reform, but said the UK will remain part of the treaty.
They said: “We will remain a member of the European Convention on Human Rights, but we welcome backing from like-minded countries to reform the ECHR when it comes to the challenges posed by mass migration.
“The Government’s Immigration White Paper sets out new plans to tighten the application of Articles 3 and 8 of the ECHR – making it easier to deport illegal migrants and giving courts the clarity they need so our immigration rules are not abused.”
Nearly 37,000 migrants arrived in the UK by small boats this year, more than the total for the whole of 2024, Home Office figures showed on Thursday.
The Prime Minister argues, like Ms Meloni, that the nature of mass migration has changed significantly since the international laws were drafted after the Second World War.
“We need to look again at the interpretation of some of these provisions, not tear them down,” he said earlier this month.
“It will be an opportunity to take stock of the issue of international conventions and the need to ensure that their implementation allows us to address the challenges of modern irregular migration – challenges that were unthinkable when those conventions were written, and signed by Italy,” the hard-Right leader said.
“On this occasion, we will propose to our partners a roadmap that, in cooperation with the Secretary General of the Council of Europe, Mr Berset, should lead in the coming months to an initial political debate on the topic in Strasbourg.”
Ms Meloni’s Albania plan, where migrants picked up in the Mediterranean would be processed in non-EU Albania, has been mired in legal difficulties.
Denmark has an agreement with Rwanda to process asylum seekers, but the deal is on hold amid concerns over possible legal barriers, including the ECHR.
The Netherlands is also preparing to send failed asylum seekers to Uganda in a plan that is expected to face legal challenges.
In her recent speech to the UN General Assembly, Ms Meloni took aim at so-called activist judges.
“These rules were established at a time when mass irregular migration did not exist and nor did human traffickers,” she said in New York.
“These conventions are no longer current in this context and, when they are interpreted in an ideological and unidirectional way by politicised judges, they end up trampling on the law, rather than upholding it.”
Italy, Denmark and the Netherlands have made the informal talks on migration a fixture of European Council summits.
Fourteen EU states, including Germany, Poland, Austria and Hungary, have taken part in meetings of the “migration hawks”, as they are called in Brussels.
Ms Meloni has already led a successful push in Brussels to reform migration laws to make it easier to deport failed asylum seekers and house them in camps outside the EU.
In the first eight months of this year, 112,000 people crossed illegally into Europe, down 21 per cent from 2024 and 52 per cent from the same period in 2023. The EU has signed return deals with non-EU countries, while its member states have cracked down on illegal immigration and moved to speed up deportations of failed asylum seekers.
All 27 EU member states, as well as the UK, belong to the 46-state Council of Europe and are signatories to the ECHR.
A Council of Europe spokesman told The Telegraph: “Secretary General Alain Berset acknowledges prime minister Meloni’s outreach. He stresses that political dialogue and collaboration within the Council of Europe is the right method to addressing migration on our continent. And he reaffirms the importance of ensuring the integrity of the European Convention on Human Rights and the European Court of Human Rights.”
Sir Keir Starmer has vowed the UK will never leave the ECHR, despite calls from the Tories and Reform UK to quit it, but he does want to restrict the ways it is used to fight deportations.
A government spokesman told The Telegraph they backed Ms Meloni’s push for reform, but said the UK will remain part of the treaty.
They said: “We will remain a member of the European Convention on Human Rights, but we welcome backing from like-minded countries to reform the ECHR when it comes to the challenges posed by mass migration.
“The Government’s Immigration White Paper sets out new plans to tighten the application of Articles 3 and 8 of the ECHR – making it easier to deport illegal migrants and giving courts the clarity they need so our immigration rules are not abused.”
Nearly 37,000 migrants arrived in the UK by small boats this year, more than the total for the whole of 2024, Home Office figures showed on Thursday.
The Prime Minister argues, like Ms Meloni, that the nature of mass migration has changed significantly since the international laws were drafted after the Second World War.
“We need to look again at the interpretation of some of these provisions, not tear them down,” he said earlier this month.
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