{"id":457783,"date":"2026-06-23T18:21:04","date_gmt":"2026-06-23T16:21:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/06\/23\/pur-di-rimpatriare-migranti-la-commissione-ue-incontra-pure-i-talebani\/"},"modified":"2026-06-23T18:43:41","modified_gmt":"2026-06-23T16:43:41","slug":"in-its-efforts-to-repatriate-migrants-the-eu-commission-is-even-meeting-with-the-taliban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/06\/23\/in-its-efforts-to-repatriate-migrants-the-eu-commission-is-even-meeting-with-the-taliban\/","title":{"rendered":"In its efforts to repatriate migrants, the EU Commission is even meeting with the Taliban"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 A visit that may come as a surprise, but was planned: that of a number of Taliban officials with representatives of the European Commission, which took place today (23 June) in Brussels. <\/span>On 12 May<\/span><\/a>, the EU had announced that it had sent a letter of invitation to several members of the current government in Kabul to discuss the repatriation of Afghan migrants who are in the EU illegally and who have committed crimes<\/strong>. <\/span><\/p>\n

The European Commission has stated that \u201cthe Commission and Sweden jointly chaired\u201d today\u2019s meeting, which was attended by 15 Member States. According to a Taliban source, the<\/span> talks, which took place behind closed doors, focused on diplomatic services and the dignified repatriation of Afghan citizens. \u201cThis was a historic visit, as it is the first time ever that a delegation from the Islamic Emirate has visited the EU and held talks with Member States in Brussels,\u201d said Abdul Qahar Balkhi<\/strong>, spokesperson for the Taliban Ministry of Foreign Affairs, who led the five-member delegation. Balkhi added that discussions centred on \u201cthe resumption of a wide range of consular services for Afghans within the EU, including the need for measures to build trust and strengthen the consular presence.\u201d <\/p>\n

A few hours before the meeting, during the usual press conference, the
\nspokesperson for Home Affairs<\/a><\/span>, Markus Lammert<\/span><\/a>, had neither confirmed nor denied the existence of the meeting. \u201cThe Commission does not disclose details of technical meetings before they have taken place,\u201d he had said, adding that contacts \u201cwith representatives of the de facto authorities in Afghanistan have been ongoing for some time.\u201d Today\u2019s meeting, in fact, is the second of 2026<\/strong>: a technical meeting had been organised in Afghanistan in January. \u201cSubsequently, the Commission prepared for a meeting here in Brussels,\u201d explained Lammert, adding that this new meeting \u201cwas organised in response to an initiative by twenty Member States, which, in a letter, asked the Commission to coordinate technical contacts on repatriation.\u201d The aim of these Member States, therefore, would be <\/strong><\/span>\u201cto repatriate people who have committed serious crimes or who pose a threat to security<\/strong><\/span>.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Commission spokesperson was keen to emphasise that \u201cwhen it comes to returns, the actual decision rests with the Member States<\/strong><\/span>,\u201d and that the relevant authorities \u201cexamine each case individually.\u201d Individual assessment is an obligation \u201calso provided for under EU law,\u201d and it is not for the Commission, nor indeed for the Union, to decide \u201cwhether and where a person may be returned.\u201d What the European Commission can do, Lammert explained, is \u201cassist and coordinate\u201d. Furthermore, he specified that the contacts with the Taliban are \u201ctechnical, operational-level contacts\u201d which in no way \u201cimply recognition\u201d of their regime<\/strong>.<\/span> <\/p>\n

What the Berlaymont Building does not know, however, is the number of Afghan nationals affected by the repatriation operations. When asked specifically how many of the 18,000 Afghans in the EU are undocumented and have committed “serious crimes” or pose “a security threat”, the response was vague: the figures must be requested from the Member States<\/strong>. Hence, the concern that this provision could open the door to the possibility of repatriating even those who have not committed a crime but are subject to a repatriation order. In this context, Lammert pointed out that \u201cany individual decision taken by Member States regarding repatriation must be adopted by the national authorities,\u201d and that work is currently focused solely on \u201cserious criminals.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

Meanwhile, civil society has organised <\/strong><\/span>a rally<\/a><\/strong> this afternoon in Brussels to protest against the meeting<\/strong>. The International Federation for Human Rights had called for the delegates to be arrested on their arrival, emphasising that senior Taliban officials are the subject of arrest warrants issued by the International Criminal Court for crimes against humanity and gender-based persecution.<\/span><\/p>\n

As early as the announcement of the possible visit, in early June, 47 MEPs had sent a letter to the Belgian Foreign Minister, Maxime Pr\u00e9vot<\/strong>, asking that the visas be refused. Pr\u00e9vot, a member of the Les Engag\u00e9s party, had stated that he did not approve of the invitation but that, as the host country for the European institutions, Belgium could not refuse to grant the requested visas. <\/span><\/p>\n

And today, before the news of the meeting had been confirmed, MEP Hannah Neumann<\/strong> (Greens\/EFA) has sent, together with other MEPs and former Afghan MPs, an open letter<\/a> to Bart De Wever<\/strong>, Prime Minister of Belgium, and to Ursula von der Leyen<\/strong>, President of the European Commission. The 28 signatories say they are \u201cdeeply concerned.\u201d “In 2021,” the letter states, \u201cthe European Union set out clear conditions for dialogue with the Taliban: respect for human rights, unhindered humanitarian access, concrete commitments in the fight against terrorism and significant steps towards the formation of an inclusive government.\u201d All 27 Member States and the EU institutions supported these criteria, but \u201cnone of them has been met.”
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

The European Parliament \u201creiterated this position in its resolution of 21 May<\/b><\/a>,\u201d the appeal continues, \u201cwarning against any form of normalisation or implicit legitimisation of the Taliban as long as systematic human rights violations continue\u201d. In these circumstances<\/strong><\/span>, “inviting Taliban representatives to Europe is a serious mistake<\/strong><\/span>.”<\/p>\n

\n

#Taliban<\/a> shouldn’t be invited to #Brussels<\/a>. This gives into blackmailing & normalisation.<\/p>\n

Together with fellow parliamentarians & former Afghan parliamentarians, I sent an open letter to @Bart_DeWever<\/a> & @vonderleyen<\/a>#EU<\/a> shouldn’t trade its principles for deportation deals.<\/p>\n

1\/3 pic.twitter.com\/T7j6hclDdE<\/a><\/p>\n

\u2014 Hannah Neumann (@HNeumannMEP) 23 June 2026<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\n

Such meetings, the signatories write, \u201care not merely technical exercises. Every invitation, every visa, every official meeting offers the Taliban what they have been seeking since they came to power: political legitimacy and international recognition<\/strong><\/span>.” Furthermore, “the stated rationale, namely, to facilitate repatriation, makes this approach particularly worrying.” According to the MEPs, this sets \u201ca dangerous precedent, in which a regime accused of serious human rights violations can exploit cooperation on migration issues to secure political concessions and greater international acceptance.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The meeting between the European Union and officials from the Kabul regime to discuss the repatriation of Afghan citizens who have committed crimes is the second such meeting in 2026. Criticism has been voiced by civil society, and a letter has been signed by twenty-eight MEPs and former Afghan MPs: \u201cA dangerous precedent\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7911,"featured_media":457750,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[29788,25681],"tags":[28819,28074,33951,34010,30693,29147,28821,33394,28058],"class_list":["post-457783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-diritti-en","category-politics","tag-afghanistan-en","tag-commissione-en","tag-europarlamentari","tag-midday","tag-protest-en","tag-rimpatri-en","tag-talebani-en","tag-ue","tag-visti-en"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457783","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7911"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=457783"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457783\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":457784,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/457783\/revisions\/457784"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/457750"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=457783"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=457783"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=457783"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}