“There is obviously a tension between the right to asylum and 80,000 people appearing at the border of, for example, Ceuta,” one EU diplomat, granted anonymity to discuss the private talks, said ahead of Thursday’s ministerial. The EU also needs to discuss “what can and cannot be done” in an emergency without violating people’s rights, the diplomat said. “It’s a hard nut to crack.”

“The need for having these kinds of emergency tools is pretty clear to us. The discussion is whether it should be on the EU level or more on the national level,” Sweden’s Migration Minister Johan Forssell said.

“If there would be an EU mechanism, it’s crucial that [it] won’t constitute a problem” for countries like Finland and Poland, which already have protective measures in place, he said. “Otherwise there’s no use having an EU response.” 

The discussion moves the debate around EU migration policy in a new direction that’s bound to cause controversy, just as ministers adopted another controversial reform that allows member countries to send failed asylum-seekers to deportation hubs in countries outside the bloc.

Civil society groups have criticized the so-called return hubs as “legal black holes,” but a group made up of Austria, Germany, Denmark, Italy and Greece is meeting regularly to lay the groundwork for such centers.

Spain was the only country to vote against the reform; Belgium abstained. Ireland and Denmark have an opt-out to EU justice matters and didn’t participate in the vote.