Berlin – ESI explains what makes “EU return sponsorships” the German “un-word” of the year

12 March 2021
Video: Unwort Bilder

ESI's Gerald Knaus was invited to explain in a short video clip what makes EU "return sponsorships" the German "un-word" of the year. The "un-word of the year" (German: Unwort des Jahres) is an annual event in which a German linguists' panel chooses a new or recently popularized term that violates human rights or infringes upon Democratic principles.

"Return sponsorships" are foreseen by the EU Commission's New Pact on Migration and Asylum and are defined as a Member State committing "to returning irregular migrants with no right to stay on behalf of another Member State, doing this directly from the territory of the beneficiary Member State."

Gerald explained that the EU Commission invented this term to conceal the crisis of solidarity at the EU's external borders and showed that it will never work in practice. Such cynical concepts of "treating people like parcels" are the very opposite of concrete asylum and refugee policy that can be implemented and reflects the EU's commitment to human rights.