Norway’s conservatives want to stop asylum influx with aid

Several European countries are exploring the possibility of sending asylum seekers to reception centers in other countries outside Europe for processing.

Liberal Conservative Party Høyre’s leader Erna Solberg believes that one possible solution is to use Norwegian aid money to finance the processing of asylum seekers in countries far away from Norway.

At the end of December, Solberg and six other members of parliament from the Conservative Party submitted a proposal to parliament asking the government to “return to parliament with concrete proposals to tighten the immigration system, which can be implemented quickly if necessary”.

According to Solberg and her party, one solution could be to “introduce various measures to build up third countries through aid” – i.e. Norwegian aid money could be used to pay other countries outside Europe to process migrants who have applied for residence permits in Norway.

According to the proposal, Norway wants to follow other European countries that also want to set up reception centers outside their own borders.

Denmark and the UK

In December, the UK agreed to a deal that would allow asylum seekers to be sent to Rwanda while their applications are processed. Denmark’s broad coalition government also wants to set up a reception center for asylum seekers outside Europe in cooperation with the EU or other countries.

Norway’s governing parties have previously said that their ambition is to use the scope of current legislation to refer asylum seekers to safe countries outside Europe.

– If you have arrived in a country and have been granted a safe stay and then move on, it is a relevant question to return to the country where you have a safe stay, said Prime Minister Jonas Gahr Støre.