Finnish authorities might introduce border procedures in cases of large-scale entries and instrumentalisation of migration, a proposal submitted to Parliament on June 22 says.
According to a press release issued by the Finnish Interior Ministry, such a proposal aims to improve and manage entries, with the amendments expected to enter the force immediately, as per the reports.
Under the border procedure, asylum applications, likely unfounded, could be processed quickly at the border, which aims at preventing applicants from moving within Finland or to other European countries.
The border procedure could apply to different newcomers, for example, if the applicant comes from a safe country or has submitted an unfounded application.
A four-week period is to be expected by the Finnish Immigration Service to decide on the application, with the possibility of the authorities to cold asylum interviews by videoconference or other technical alternatives.
“Legislation enabling border procedures is one of the many ways the government is preparing to combat hybrid influence, in which a foreign state would try to put pressure on Finland by instrumentalising large-scale immigration. During the spring, we have already increased the Border Guard’s resources for border control,” the Minister of the Interior Krista Mikkonen said.
Furthermore, the asylum applications would be assessed individually, and the border procedure would not apply to vulnerable applicants, such as victims of traffic, if the necessary special support could not be provided to them in the asylum procedure during the fact-track process.
The Interior Minister pointed out that the introduction of a border procedure would not give a right to rectification in the asylum process, but the right to seek asylum would be maintained.
As the new border procedure is based on EU law, some of the perks related to its application must be sorted out by the Member States, including the restriction of movement during the procedure.
