Immigration used as political tool across EU’s spectrum, expert warns

Immigration has become less a matter of European policy and more a stage for domestic political theatre, according to Dr. Manlio Graziano, Founder and Director of the Nicholas Spykman International Center for Geopolitical Analysis. His assessment comes as Italy’s recent temporary suspension of the Schengen Agreement with Spain — triggered by a migration episode in Ceuta — draws scrutiny across the continent.

A gesture for the home crowd

Italy’s move wasn’t really aimed at Brussels or Madrid. That’s the central argument Graziano makes. The suspension, he contends, was a message directed inward — toward an increasingly fractured Italian right, where Meloni faces mounting pressure from parties positioned even further along the ideological spectrum than Fratelli d’Italia. “Migration policy across Europe has shifted from being a governance question to being a performance,” Graziano told Delano. “Politicians are no longer trying to solve the problem. They’re trying to be seen reacting to it.”

Italy processed over 157,000 irregular migrant arrivals in 2023, a figure that gave Meloni’s government considerable ammunition. But the numbers alone don’t explain the timing or the target of each political manoeuvre. Context does.

Meloni’s tightening grip — or loosening one?

Giorgia Meloni came to power in October 2022 on a platform that placed immigration front and centre. And she’s delivered some of what her base expected — bilateral deals with Tunisia and Libya, pressure on NGO rescue vessels, and a steady stream of tough rhetoric. Yet the Italian far-right hasn’t stood still. Parties like Lega, under Matteo Salvini, continue to compete aggressively for the same voters. So Meloni keeps moving, keeps signalling.

That’s the trap. Each symbolic escalation demands another. The Schengen suspension, lasting just days and producing no measurable shift in migration flows, illustrates the pattern perfectly. It’s politics dressed as policy.

Not just an Italian problem

Graziano is careful to spread the diagnosis across the political spectrum. It’s not only the right deploying immigration as a political instrument. Centre and centre-left parties across the EU have also struggled to articulate coherent positions, often lurching between humanitarian rhetoric and electoral anxiety. France’s debates ahead of its 2027 presidential cycle, Germany’s post-2023 coalition tensions over asylum law, and Sweden’s dramatic policy pivot after 2022 — all reflect the same underlying dynamic.

Immigration has become the EU’s most reliable political accelerant, regardless of who’s holding the match.

What comes next

The European Commission’s New Pact on Migration and Asylum, agreed in principle in 2024, was supposed to create a durable framework. Whether it translates into something member states actually follow is another question. Graziano isn’t optimistic. With European Parliament elections reshaping national calculations and right-wing blocs growing in influence, the incentive structure still rewards noise over negotiation.

And until that changes, expect more suspensions, more summits, and more headlines — with fewer solutions hidden inside any of them.