Brussels, 12/09/2007 (Agence Europe) - On Wednesday 12 September, the European Parliament civil liberties committee (LIBE) adopted a draft report on the directive setting standards and rules for the return of illegal immigrants to their country of origin common to all member states. Currently, member states apply different rules on the procedures to be followed when they wish to send immigrants illegally residing on their territory back to their home country. To remedy this situation, the European Commission brought forward a draft directive (codecision) in August 2005 (see EUROPE 9018). This proposal is the first serious attempt at putting in place a common European policy on expulsion. In total, over 200 amendments to the text were adopted by the members of the LIBE committee on Wednesday. These amendments notably modify the rules on temporary detention and removal of illegal immigrants.
For the moment, the maximum detention period varies from 32 hours to 12 months, with some member states not having set any limit. Consequently, MEPs set the period of detention at a maximum of 18 months and provided for the use of coercive measures (to ensure removal of illegal immigrants or asylum seekers whose cases have been rejected) to be on a case-by-case basis. A re-entry ban, valid throughout the EU, may be placed on returned immigrants. The draft directive promotes the principle of voluntary return by establishing a general rule that a “period of departure” should normally be granted. MEPs felt that this should be of at least four weeks, unless the competent authorities have objective reasons for changing this timescale. Once it is adopted, member states will have 18 months to implement the directive. (bc)