The European Parliament’s Committee on Civil Liberties on Wednesday 2 September took stock of progress on three important reports, including one by Tineke Strik (Greens/EFA, Netherlands) on the implementation of the current Returns Directive, a policy that will be one of the pillars of the Asylum and Migration Pact.
She presented some of the 240 amendments to her report (see EUROPE 12519/5) and said it is proving “difficult” to find compromises on all points. She nevertheless welcomed the fact that many of the amendments were aimed at “improving the system”.
Unsurprisingly, there are still significant divisions between groups, with some, such as the ID group, for example, favouring quantitative indicators of the Directive’s quality. For Mrs Strik, one of the key areas of work is to give priority to “voluntary returns”, as forced returns have proven to be ineffective. But for other Members, coercion must remain a major component.
Mrs Strik said that she had received positive amendments on time limits for the execution of decisions, the risk of leaks, cooperation with non-Member States, and the protection of children, especially with regard to their detention.
The EPP made it known that its report cannot “be limited to a list of procedural safeguards”, said Paulo Rangel (Portugal), who, with his colleagues, proposed amendments recalling the number of people in an irregular situation in the EU and calling for new agreements with non-Member States.
Sophie in 't Veld (Renew Europe, Netherlands) recalled that an effective return policy is a condition for the proper functioning of the asylum system. “When these returns are voluntary, they are more effective”, she added.
Other reports discussed were those on the annual Rule of law mechanism, prepared by Michal Šimečka (Renew Europe, Slovakia) and on the implementation of the Dublin 3 Regulation, prepared by Fabienne Keller (Renew Europe, France). These also received a large number of amendments (300 and 290).
Link to the amendments to the ‘Returns’ text: https://bit.ly/31SEFj8 (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)