On Wednesday 23 October in Strasbourg, MEPs once again presented a divided front on how to reduce irregular arrivals in the EU, in particular by tightening the return policy for illegal immigrants.
The elected representatives returned to the results of the European Summit of 17 October (see EUROPE 13506/1) and the concept of ‘innovative solutions’ through ‘return hubs’. During this debate, led for the Commission by Commissioner for Equality Helena Dalli, the left-wing groups once again vehemently rejected all these ideas as ineffective, costly and inhumane. The Renew Europe group has also taken this line, while accepting the need to revise the current Returns Directive dating from 2008, a revision of which was suggested in 2018 but remains blocked in Parliament.
The leader of the S&D group, Iratxe Gárcia Pérez, rejects “Ursula von der Leyen’s letter to bury the Asylum and Migration Pact [...]”. “The only letter that must be respected is the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which guarantees the right of asylum”.
Referring to the Italian court ruling of 18 October on the Italian-Albanian system, she called on the President-elect of the Commission to “abandon her idea of ‘return hubs’”, while reminding the right of the Chamber that the number of illegal arrivals had fallen by 42% compared to last year.
“The cruelty of the measures that you hide under the euphemism of ‘innovative’ to deal with irregular entries is simply unacceptable. The only possible solution is a humanistic, orderly and safe migration policy”, she said, denouncing the narrative of migrants as job-stealers when European agriculture and construction sectors would “collapse” without migration.
Valérie Hayer, the French chair of the Renew Europe group, quipped about the “48-hour” lifespan of the device between Rome and Tirana, and wondered how “we can want to draw inspiration from such a failure”.
She claimed these systems also represent a financial “boondoggle”. Effectiveness, said Ms Hayer, means checking “migrants as soon as they arrive on our soil, entering data in a shared database, speeding up applications... Effectiveness is the ‘Pact’”, she summed up. While the group supports the revision of the Returns Directive, it calls for “resistance to demagoguery and false solutions”.
“The current reality is that a majority, aided by the Conservatives (EPP), is giving in to the appeals of the far right and populist propaganda on immigration. Deportation agreements and the creation of camps in third countries are an inhumane, costly and ineffective approach that offers no solution”, added Belgian Green MEP Saskia Bricmont (Greens/EFA).
The new French Greens/EFA MEP, Mélissa Camara, condemned the “EPP’s manic scrabble to keep up with the obsessions of the far right” when “people on the ground are not asking for return hubs” but for resources to help people integrate better.
For its part, the EPP has continued to defend these new and innovative approaches.
Tomas Tobé (EPP, Swedish) believes that we need to “regain control of migration” and that the first major step has been taken with the Pact. “It is we, not the smugglers, who decide who enters the EU, and it has always been clear to us that more needs to be done to increase returns”. A new proposal is therefore due to be made “within 100 days” of the start of the new Commissioner’s term of office. “We should also explore new solutions, such as return hubs”, added Mr Tobé. “Some parts of the left are united in their resistance, but the EPP is ready to move things forward”, he continued.
For Nicola Procaccini (ECR, Italian), “so far in Europe, we have followed the left’s ‘no border’ line”, with failures including “returns not carried out, deaths at sea and insecurity in our cities. It’s time to change course, to welcome those who have a chance of integration, and to deal with the phenomenon before they arrive”. Asking for “help from third countries is just common sense”, he commented. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)