Ministers from across the European Union said on Thursday that member states must screen migrants and asylum seekers better and expel those deemed a security risk more quickly, after militant attacks highlighted persistent difficulties.
Interior and justice ministers were meeting on Thursday in Brussels to discuss what steps to take following deadly attacks in Brussels and France, at a time of heightened security concerns linked to the Israel-Hamas conflict.
"It's important that those individuals that could cause a security threat to our citizens be returned forcefully, immediately," Reuters quoted EU migration commissioner Ylva Johansson as telling reporters ahead of the meeting.
"We need to be more efficient, close the loopholes and be quicker on decisions to carry out returns."
The 45-year-old Tunisian gunman who killed two Swedish football fans in the Belgian capital on Monday was staying there illegally after his asylum request had been denied.
He reached the EU via the Italian island of Lampedusa in 2011 and also lived in Sweden. He was shot dead by Belgian police.
The 20-year-old, Russian-born Ingush accused of stabbing to death a teacher in northern France on Friday was known before the attack to be a possible security risk but could not have been expelled under current legislation, France said.
"We realize there's still a bit naivety either in the institutions of some countries or in the EU," French Interior Minister Gerald Darmanin said as he arrived for the EU meeting, calling for the swift implementation of much-discussed EU migration rules, and for faster decisions on asylum requests.
Proponents of this looming overhaul of the EU's migration policies - expected to be finalized this year - say it would improve the situation, including by facilitating quicker repatriations of foreigners with criminal records.
