On Tuesday 7 November, the Swedish ministers for justice and migration, Gunnar Strömmer and Maria Malmer Stenergard, sent a letter to the European Commission and the Spanish Presidency of the EU Council calling for greater security within the Schengen area and improved mechanisms for exchanging information between the relevant services.
They also called for additional efforts in the fight against terrorist financing, and called on the co-legislators to reach a rapid agreement on the Pact on Migration and Asylum, which will enable better management of flows and, most importantly, an effective return policy.
The Tunisian terrorist who killed two Swedish nationals in Brussels on 16 October was the subject of outstanding return order.
“We must ask ourselves if the work now being done is enough and if we have the necessary tools and legal framework to prevent terrorists from abusing the asylum system, and from being able to remain on the territory and to travel between Member States and then carry out attacks on the innocent people of Europe. We must also ask ourselves if we have done enough to prevent violent extremism in all its forms”, they write.
“It is crucial that persons that might pose a threat to our countries and to the lives of our citizens are detected and identified when they try to enter the Schengen area, and that persons who do not have the right to stay in the EU and in the Schengen Member States are made to return in a swift, secure, and effective manner”.
Link to the letter: https://aeur.eu/f/9eo
European Parliament discussions on returns
The political negotiation meeting between the European Parliament rapporteurs on the returns directive (see EUROPE 13286/6) on 6 November has not yet resolved the deadlock between the groups on the use of detention of minors and families, with rapporteur Tineke Strik (Greens/EFA, Dutch) proposing a general ban on the detention of minors and families, with exceptions that some groups considered unworkable, according to a source.
Differences of opinion also persist over the risks of absconding and the new criteria to be added to justify the use of detention, with some groups wishing to maintain the criterion of illegal entry into the EU or the use of false documents. Regarding the holding period, the rapporteurs are leaning towards a vote on two options: the first on a minimum holding period of 1 to 3 months, with a maximum of 15 months, and a second option raising this maximum period to 18 months, as is currently the case. Some groups are also counting on negotiations with the Council of the EU to extend this period beyond 18 months.
According to this source, the question of linking the end of the right of residence in the EU with an immediate decision to leave the country is no longer open to debate. The next meeting between the shadow rapporteurs will take place on 16 November. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)