Brussels, 09/01/2008 (Agence Europe) - “No to the outrageous Directive!” is the call to MEPs to sign the petition launched in November 2007 urging them to reject the draft directive on the detention and expulsion of foreigners residing illegally in member states. Hitherto, the Cimade (Conseil oecuménique d'entraide) petition, launched jointly with 13 organisations, including European Migreurope organisations and the Association européenne pour la défense des droits de l'homme (AEDH), has gathered almost 25,000 signatures from individuals, organisations and political representatives. The draft proposal would open the way for a more general policy of internment of migrants, Cimade argues. “It is up to the European Parliament to defend the values and fundamental liberties which form the basis of the European project and give it its meaning. We call on the members of the European Parliament not to vote for this proposal,” it says. The draft “return” directive, currently the subject of trilogue discussion, provides for the extension of administrative or judicial detention to 18 months. In France, foreigners cannot be legally detained for more than 32 days. Seven member states, including the United Kingdom, Denmark, Finland and Sweden set no time limit, and Germany and Malta already have an 18 month detention limit. The draft directive also provides for a five-year ban from Europe for all people who have been expelled.
In 2005, the Commission brought forward a draft directive on detention and expulsion of people who had no legal right of residence in the European Union. It was for the Council and European Parliament to consider the contents and adopt it, for the first time in this area, following the co-decision procedure. In June 2007, the Portuguese presidency expressed its desire to have the text adopted before the end of its period of office. On 12 September 2007, the Parliament civil liberties committee (Libe) adopted a compromise on the report by German MEP Manfred Weber (EPP) (see EUROPE 9500). Plenary session voting was initially scheduled for 29 November 2007, but was postponed because compromise between the Council and the Parliament could not be found. A great deal is at stake here for MEPs who want the text to be passed at all costs, since it would prove that the co-decision procedure is reliable and that the European Parliament is capable of negotiating thorny issues, such as illegal immigration, with the Council. Following several technical meetings, there took place on 18 December a political trilogue at which the Slovenian presidency said it wanted to reach a first reading compromise as quickly as possible (see EUROPE 9571). For this reason, further technical meetings are planned for January and February. Depending on progress made on the text, another political trilogue is expected to meet in February or March, and the plenary session vote might be expected to take place in May-June. The Cimade petition is available at: http: //http://www.outrageousdirective.org/ (B.C)