The fact that the meeting will take place in Brussels on Tuesday is still regarded as confirmed after the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced that five people have received visas, but only for one day and valid only for Belgium.
Neither the European Commission nor the EU countries provide much information.
"Work is underway to enable a potential technical meeting to take place. It will be an opportunity for member states to have contact at a technical level, which they need to be able to carry out returns," said Markus Lammert, spokesman for EU Home Affairs Commissioner Magnus Brunner, at the Commission's daily press briefing yesterday.
No politicians
Tuesday's meeting is taking place at the civil service level and has been pushed forward by EU countries that, in particular, want to be able to deport convicted criminals to Afghanistan.
Sweden will be at the meeting. It will take place in the future. It is a technical discussion and we will see where it takes us, Migration Minister Johan Forssell (M) told TT in connection with a ministerial meeting in Luxembourg in early June.
The European Commission and EU countries have repeatedly emphasized that the meeting does not constitute any "legitimization" of the Taliban regime and that any deportations should only affect people who have gone through all possible asylum processes and are not considered to have the right to protection in the EU.
Harsh criticism
Nevertheless, criticism has been sharp from both human rights organizations and political opposition in several countries.
“EU countries are undermining their credibility by condemning Taliban abuses with one hand and cooperating with the Taliban and forcing Afghans back with the other,” said Fereshta Abbasi of Human Rights Watch in a press release.
