A group of 17 European countries has called for a “paradigm shift” in migration policy to ensure asylum seekers whose applications have been declined are effectively and speedily sent back to their home countries.

This new approach, they say, should entail “consequences” for those who are handed a return order but never leave the continent.

The approach was led by Austria and the Netherlands and endorsed by Croatia, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Slovakia and Sweden. Norway and Switzerland, two non-EU member states of the Schengen Area, also lent their signatures.