Brussels, 11/04/2002 (Agence Europe) - On a proposal put forward by Antonio Vitorino, the Commission approved a Green Paper on the return of persons unlawfully residing in the EU (forced or voluntary return), in order to open a debate and provoke reaction on the part of all concerned. The Commission hopes to receive contributions in writing before 31 July this year in order to prepare a hearing for this summer. The Green Paper comes within the framework of further action to the Laeken Summit of December 2001, which had invited the JHA Council to develop an action plan based on the Commission's communication of 15 November 2001 on common policy on illegal immigration, a plan that was adopted by the Council on 28 February and which comprises a section devoted to re-admission and repatriation policy (see EUROPE of 1 March, p.11, and 17 November, p.8).
In its Green Paper, the Commission proposes indepth reflection on: 1) the finalisation of common return policy as a contribution to an overall immigration policy which is compatible with the requirements of protection arising from international and European law, mainly in the context of the common European asylum regime in full development; 2) the implementation of point 40 of the Laeken conclusions, which calls for integration of the policy on migratory flow into the EU's external policy; 3) the need to provide common standards for return procedures and to verify whether such norms must be legally binding; 4) improved cooperation between Member States' administrations (and whether a financial instrument facilitate this?); 5) the determination of elements of a common policy for re-admission based on balanced cooperation with the third countries concerned.
The Commission insists on the fact that priority must be granted to voluntary return, for humanitarian reasons and because it is less cumbersome at the administrative level than forced return. Nonetheless, in its view, forced return may be a strong signal for illegal immigrants who are already in the Member States and for potential illegal immigrants. However, as this is also a very serious attack on the freedom of the persons concerned, the Commission stresses that any decision to expel someone must be subject to prior conditions such as the condemnation of a third country national to a sentence of at least one year (for transport and sale of narcotics, for acting as a passer, for dealing in the trade of human being, for terrorism, or for breach of national security).