The time limit set at eight months for Member States to successfully return irregular migrants to their countries of origin is the right one, maintains the Commission after several discussions on this subject in working groups with Member States, according to a document dated 29 January seen by EUROPE.
The Member States, meeting in an EU Council working group on Wednesday 3 February, were to discuss these conclusions and also the role of Frontex in these operations, which is to be developed to support the implementation of these “return sponsorships”.
The discussion was also expected to focus on the role of the future EU Return Coordinator, created by the Commission in its Pact on Migration and Asylum, which states that the coordinator should not be in direct contact with the authorities of non-Member States to organise these return operations.
Return sponsorships are one of the avenues presented by Member States to relieve the countries on the front line in the event of a crisis, with the parallel option of compulsory relocation of asylum seekers on their soil, the choice being left to them.
In recent months, however, several countries have expressed doubts about the eight-month deadline, which they consider too short and not achievable. For other frontline Member States, however, the time limit is just too long and should also be reduced to four months or even to five or six weeks, the document says. “Irregular migrants cannot be detained for such a long time”, they argued.
However, several Member States are concerned about having to receive these irregular migrants on their territory in order to continue the return procedure, if the person concerned has not been returned within the eight-month period.
The Commission has reassured that this is not forced mandatory relocation, but these Member States, like the Visegrád Group countries, are concerned that this sponsorship system will create a “draught” if it proves impossible to meet the eight-month deadline.
“This practice will be a pull factor and will lead to secondary movements. In addition, returns are more efficient from the first country of entry. Therefore, for them, this proposal was equal to a delayed form of relocation”, summarises the document.
Member States have also asked the Commission for clarification on what happens to the responsibility of Member States in charge of guarding the sponsored returnees on their territory if they escape during this eight-month period. For them, the Regulation on Asylum Management and Migration does not seem to be sufficiently precise.
For some delegations, such a circumstance should simply suspend or abolish the eight-month period and thus maintain the responsibility of the country benefiting from this measure.
Member States also want the Regulation to specify the rules when an application for international protection is filed during this eight-month period.
Link to the document: http://bit.ly/36GbYb8 (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)