The European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE) has drawn up a mixed assessment of the new proposal for a Return Regulation concerning people residing illegally in the EU, presented by the European Commission on Tuesday 11 March (EUROPE 13597/17), pointing out some positive aspects but giving the new instrument a negative overall assessment.
“Overall, the proposal for a Return Regulation severely limits procedural safeguards, expands the use of detention and restricting migrants rights to appeal the return decision” writes the ECRE. Nevertheless, “the proposed introduction of an independent mechanism to monitor forced returns is welcome”, says the organisation, which also welcomed the fact that the text requires Member States to carry out an explicit assessment of the risks of refoulement prior to any forced return.
For the rest, however, the ECRE claims that the proposal will make “voluntary return more difficult”. It also “significantly expands both the grounds for detention and the maximum detention period, extending it to up to 24 months. Notably, the proposal does not explicitly state that detention should be used as a measure of last resort except for unaccompanied children and families with children”.
The Commission is also proposing to considerably extend the list of countries to which third-country nationals can be returned against their will, beyond their country of origin. “This raises questions regarding the protection of fundamental rights of the people concerned, what would happen to people who are then stranded in third countries and ultimately as well as the sustainability of returns”.
Link to position: https://aeur.eu/f/fvz (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)