The European Parliament’s rapporteur on the revision of the Returns Directive, Dutch MEP Tineke Strik (Greens/EFA), wants to focus on the voluntary return of irregular migrants to their countries of origin in the EU. She will also attempt to review situations that justify entry bans accompanying return decisions.
This option of voluntary returns is indeed the most effective and sustainable way forward, she argued on Thursday 10 September before the Committee on Civil Liberties of the European Parliament. It was supported by some of the elected representatives and the European Commission, for whom voluntary departures should be the first step to take.
By the end of 2018, the European Commission had presented targeted amendments to the Returns Directive, including proposals to extend, in specific cases, the detention periods for persons to be sent back. The minimum detention period for these people would be at least 3 months. (see EUROPE 12095/13).
A shortening of the time period for lodging an appeal for a person having to leave the EU was also thought about.
For those people whose asylum application has been rejected during the border procedure, the European Commission therefore proposed not giving any deadline for ‘voluntary’ returns and to immediately indicate the compulsory nature of the return. Appeals against return orders also had to be filed within five days. Member States could limit the suspensory effect of appeals against return decisions “where there is no risk of violation of the principle of non-refoulement”.
Tineke Strik wants to change this. Indeed, she wants to remove the possibility of avoiding the use of voluntary returns, and to review the criteria for refusing voluntary returns. She also wants to strengthen assistance provided by Member States with regard to these return procedures.
For the elected ecologist, it is not the “recasting” that the European Commission had proposed, but rather a “thorough revision”.
The MEP, who took over from her compatriot Judith Sargentini after the European elections in May 2019, should have presented her draft report in February, but the pandemic put pay to that.
Amendments from the other political groups must be tabled by 23 September. Unsurprisingly, the EPP group wants to review the logic of the report, which, according to French MEP Nadine Morano, “would hinder returns”.
For the S&D group, French MEP Sylvie Guillaume will table amendments on integration and cooperation with non-Member States. It also wants to tackle procedures at the EU's borders, which will return to news reports at the end of September with the presentation of the Pact on Asylum and Migration by the Commission.
Ms Guillaume also advocated facilitating voluntary returns. “Most organisations have proven that non-coercive measures are the most effective”, she said. Opposition to the detention of minors will be another area of work for the S&D group, she added. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)