At the informal Justice and Home Affairs ministerial meeting held in Nicosia on Thursday 22 January, Germany stepped up the pace on the issue of migrant returns by launching a “working group” dedicated to ‘return hubs’, the transit centres in third countries provided for in the Return Regulation adopted by the Council of the EU last December (see EUROPE 13768/1).
Germany’s Minister of the Interior, Alexander Dobrindt, announced to the press the forthcoming drawing up of a “‘roadmap’ defining the third countries” with which these so-called “innovative” solutions would be established. At this stage, the group includes Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands and Greece, “in close cooperation” with the European Commission.
In a context where only 25% of orders to leave European territory are executed (110,000 returns for 450,000 decisions in 2024), this informal coalition reflects a certain impatience among the Member States, barely six months before the entry into force of the ‘Pact on Migration and Asylum’ (see EUROPE 13790/2). Mr Dobrindt felt that the conclusion of agreements with third countries could not take place without “a particular commitment on the part of a group of countries that wish to move this project forward”. Gerhard Karner, his Austrian counterpart and partner in the group, strongly supported the need to speed up expulsions, calling for a system that is “clearer, stricter, but fairer”.
Sweden, which is struggling to cope with irregular migration, has expressed a certain curiosity about this initiative. In front of a small group of journalists, its Minister for Migration and Asylum Policy, Johan Forssell, interpreted the creation of this working group as a way of saying: “If anyone is to move forward, let it be us”. From this point of view, Sweden, which he described as “avant-garde” in terms of its migration policy (particularly with regard to Syrian criminals), would, in his view, “also be part of this group”. However, even though he saw “progress” in a “pilot model for return hubs”, he warned that “this will not be a panacea” and urged those present to remember the partnership between Italy and Albania, which has proven inconclusive.
Nicholas Ioannides, the Cypriot Minister for Migration and co-representative of the Cyprus Presidency at this informal meeting, was more moderate.
When questioned by Agence Europe, he stressed the “practical” dimension of such a policy and the “difficulties” it would potentially cause on the issue of repatriations. In any case, “each solution [proposed] must comply with international and European law”, he stressed.
Back to Syria... and Afghanistan. While ministers are giving high priority to voluntary returns to the Middle East - apart from migrants convicted of criminal offences - they also have to deal with the reality on the ground.
“Syria is currently in an unstable situation and a large part of the country remains dangerous”, noted Amy Pope, Director General of the International Organization for Migration. She said that it remained essential that Syrians “want to return home to rebuild, and that this is accompanied by foreign aid and support from the Member States”.
This is an idea on which a majority of ministers agree, and for which some countries, such as Belgium, Germany and Sweden, are already offering material and financial incentives.
Then there is Afghanistan, where the Luxembourg minister, Léon Gloden, admitted that “children and women still have no future”, although he advocated a “realpolitik” aimed at “seeing how we can bring Afghans back to Afghanistan in the long term”. On this subject, Johan Forssell proposes technical cooperation with “joint charter flights”, despite the lack of political contacts with the Taliban.
Frontex and the enlargement of Schengen in the background. With a view to Frontex’s new mandate in June, Magnus Brunner, Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration, stressed his desire to strengthen the agency’s role, both in terms of returns and cooperation with third countries.
With regard to Cyprus as a candidate for Schengen membership, Mr Ioannides said that Cyprus had “finalised its technical inspections” and that the Commission’s report was awaited.
Commissioner Brunner praised the country’s “considerable progress”, even describing it as an example to follow on the issue of migration.
However, the issue of the Green Line, which has been governed by a special legal framework for 21 years, remains a complex point in the bid, and will be at the heart of future discussions with the EU. (Original version in French by Justine Manaud)