In this week’s episode, Dimitris Avramopoulos, the European commissioner for migration, citizenship and home affairs, explains how the European Commission is fighting back against populist attempts to hijack the migration agenda.

“Because of migration, the basic principle of the European project is in danger,” he said, adding “every day I come to my office I try to see how do they think and what do they say?”

His solution: working with hardliners to achieve one of their goals — controlled migration flows, but avoiding methods such as refusing to let ships dock or returning settled migrants. As part of Jean-Claude Juncker’s State of the European Union speech on September 12, the Commission plans to propose a “genuine border police” to ensure a “controlled and orderly” migration system, and to increase returns, Avramopoulos said. It’s a beefing-up of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency launched in October 2016.

Avramopoulos added that his Brussels career will be over, along with the Juncker Commission, in 2019: “My heart and my mind is leading back home,” he said.