UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak held a meeting in London on Tuesday, January 23, with his Belgian counterpart, Alexander De Croo. The discussions focused on irregular migration and law enforcement cooperation against a backdrop of the conflict in Gaza and the ongoing war in Ukraine.

De Croo, who visited London just hours after Britain and the US conducted joint strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen, referenced the "turbulent world" of the present day.

Sunak noted the longstanding "close partnership and friendship" between the two countries.

"I know we'll talk today about our efforts to combat the criminal gangs who are facilitating illegal migration and strengthening our co-operation to break those gangs."

He said that the situation in Ukraine, as well as energy security, was also a shared interest.

De Croo told Sunak: "We're good neighbors, we're allies. And I think in a turbulent world more than ever, countries like the UK and Belgium need to align, need to work together."

Surge in far-right migration policies in Europe

This week, Belgium's State Secretary for Migration Nicole de Moor, called for a more unified approach to migration within Europe and in her own country, in response to the rise of the far-right across the region, Politico reported.

"I don’t think you can beat the extreme by keeping quiet about the problems. Solving the problems is the solution," said De Moor.

De Moor, a member of the center-right Christian Democratic and Flemish party (CD&V) and part of a seven-party coalition with different views on migration policy, will preside over a meeting of EU migration ministers on Thursday during Belgium’s six-month presidency of the Council of the EU.

For the past few years, Belgium has been struggling to house refugees, while also veering further to the right, with the far-right Vlaams Belang party currently leading in the polls.

De Moor called for a more restrictive approach to migration. "Asylum is there to protect people fleeing war and persecution. But when people see that being used for other reasons, you lose support," she told Politico.

Belgium is now planning to implement the migration deal the EU brokered in December after years of political deadlock. NGOs have criticized the deal as a radical shift to the right after years of failed attempts to agree on regulations relating to the redistribution of migrants across member states. Today, the EU’s migration ministers will review the next steps of the pact.

While De Moor claims she supports the right to international protection and a fair asylum process, she stated that economic migrants should face greater restrictions when entering the EU.

Despite the popularity of right-wing rhetoric across Europe and the UK, there has been little evidence that a deterrent approach is effective in reducing the number of asylum seekers arriving in the region. Instead, research suggests that geo-political developments, such as conflict and political instability, rather than policy have a much greater impact on the number of people claiming asylum.

Also read: EU pact on migration and asylum must guarantee rights, urges IOM

With dpa