Discussions between the European Parliament rapporteurs on the revised directive on the return of people residing illegally in the EU to their country of origin, presented in 2018, resumed late on Monday 6 November, with rapporteur Tineke Strik (Greens/EFA, Dutch) scheduling three further meetings in November in order to reach an agreement.
The European Parliament rapporteurs on the text designed to improve the return rates of illegal immigrants have not had a political meeting since mid-2022. While the Council of the EU has had a mandate since 2019 for this directive revising the current 2008 framework, the European Parliament remains divided on key issues such as the use of detention, including of minors, in cases of removal decisions and the shortening of the time limits for people who receive a return decision to leave voluntarily. Extending the use of detention with new criteria on the risk of absconding is also an issue for some of the groups.
For the EPP and shadow rapporteur Nadine Morano (French), the challenge of the resuming negotiations is to achieve a text that can effectively increase the rate of returns (22% of decisions executed to date in 2023) and “not complicate them”, with the EPP group having accused the Dutch MEP of complicating the procedures so that these returns do not take place. Another important point for the EPP is the question of people who have been subject to a return decision that pose a serious risk to public safety.
In its mandate adopted in May 2019, the Council of the EU stated in particular that Member States may decide not to grant a period for voluntary departure where a third-country national has already lodged an application for legal residence which has been rejected as fraudulent, manifestly unfounded or inadmissible..
As regards the criteria for identifying the risk of absconding to justify detention, they added the risk to public order, public security or national security.
With regard to periods of detention, given that the maximum periods of detention in certain Member States are not sufficient to guarantee the enforcement of return, they also wanted to set a maximum period of detention of not less than 3 months and not more than 6 months, with the possibility of extending these periods by 12 months, i.e. up to 18 months. Some groups in the European Parliament want to shorten this period. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)