EU leaders strike hard line on migration, including visa retaliation, after summit in Brussels

After a summit in Brussels that ran into the wee hours, European Union leaders struck a hard-line tone on migration policy, threatening to use visa permits, trade flows and development aid as leverages to crack down on irregular border crossings and speed up the return of unsuccessful asylum-seekers.

In a small win for Italy, heads of state and government urged "reinforced cooperation" on search-and-rescue operations in the Central Mediterranean, a reference to the activities of private NGOs.

The hard-right government of Prime Minister Georgia Meloni has recently adopted a mandatory code of conduct for rescue ships and is pushing to have similar rules at the EU level, a move that has gained some traction but remains distant.

"We asked and obtained that the European Council's conclusions be focused on the external dimension and therefore on the protection of the EU's external borders, taking into account the difference that exists between (national) borders, and particularly the specificity of maritime borders," Meloni told reporters on Friday, openly taking credit for the tough wording.

"All of this can be found in the conclusions."

Meloni is seen as instrumental in having brought the divisive issue of migration back to the very top of the EU's agenda after the bloc spent years immersed in the pandemic, the war and the energy crisis.

"Immigration is a European problem and requires a European response. In my view, this (recognition) considerably changes the approach to migration policy," Meloni said.

Last year the EU registered 330,000 irregular border crossings and 924,000 asylum applications, an increase of 64% and 46% respectively compared to 2021.

Leaders have raised the alarm about an increase in asylum requests from