On Wednesday 11 October, French MEP Damien Carême (Greens/EFA) carried out an observation mission at the Franco-Italian border between Menton and Ventimiglia, where he noted breaches of European law, particularly with regard to the application of the ‘Returns’ Directive to people arriving from Lampedusa, he told EUROPE on Thursday 12 October.
Questioned by local associations, he went to see how these people are looked after and then deported to Italy, while France refuses them entry to the country. “But the Court of Justice of the European Union has just said that the ‘Returns’ Directive must be applied, and that’s absolutely not the case”.
As a result, minors and families may be deprived of their liberty.
In general, the MEP deplores the fact that European law is not being applied at the border, and not only in France.
As shadow rapporteur on the Asylum and Migration Management Regulation (AMMR), he is also critical of the new proposals in the regulation which allow multiple derogations from the right of asylum and provide for detention measures up to 18 months (as in the ‘Crisis’ text, editor’s note).
He says these derogations signal, quite simply, the end of the common European asylum system. For the MEP, these texts from the regulation, far from solving the problems, particularly of front-line countries, will only bring additional “suffering”. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)