Claims of leaked EU memo suggests UK migrant plan rejected
Headlines ran Tuesday suggesting the EU has rejected the UK’s plan to return migrants crossing the channel back to xyz.
Outlets reported on a leaked document they claimed to be an EU memo of discussions with the UK’s national security adviser, Sir Tim Barrow. It was said the memo showed Bjoern Seibert, an aide to the European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen, ruling out a post-Brexit “returns agreement” for migrants.
Seibert reportedly “stressed” that “the Commission is not open to a UK-EU readmissions agreement”.
However, a commission spokesperson denied Seibert made any such comment, saying, “We have checked and Mr Seibert did not say that.”
At the time of writing, neither can be confirmed or denied since the memo in question is nowhere to be seen, but it’s interesting to observe which outlets are open to the possibility of misinterpretation or error around the alleged memo, and those who chose to run headlines before apparently verifying the information fully. The divide is drawn along the political line, which in turn reflects a stance opposing (left) or supporting (right) the UK’s questionable migrant policies, as well as pro- or anti-EU stance.
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