MEPs and European states reached an agreement on Monday June 1 to toughen the EU’s migration policy, with the possibility of creating centers abroad to return illegal migrants. The law provides for a range of measures to speed up expulsions and allows states that wish to do so to set up centers outside Europe, to return rejected asylum seekers there.
The compromise, found in the evening, will have to be voted on one last time by the European Parliament and the Member States in the coming weeks. Some European countries such as Denmark, Austria and Germany are already starting to imagine where to set up these centers, for example in Rwanda, Uganda or Uzbekistan.
The idea of creating these “return hubs”, without links to the migrants’ country of origin, is not new. It was tested by Giorgia Meloni’s Italy in Albania, even before their asylum application was examined, contrary to what the new European law provides.
But the center in Albania has long remained empty due to a series of legal challenges. And it will take time for States to develop such projects, in agreement with the third countries which would host them. France has been skeptical of such centers and Spain has opposed them, seeing them as a threat to respect for human rights.
Turn of screw
These hubs will be “country-by-country arrangements.” We don’t really see how it will work,” warns a diplomatic source, who considers that the heart of the law lies rather in the “flexibilities” put in place to speed up expulsions.
Because the text approved on Monday provides for stricter sanctions for migrants refusing to leave EU soil, such as seizure of identity documents or extended detention of up to 24 months. The return of migrants against their will would also be accompanied by a ban on entry into the EU extended to 10 years (compared to 5 years currently), or even 20 years.
Today, around 20% of expulsion decisions are actually successful, a statistic widely criticized by supporters of a firmer migration line.
But with the new rules, the EU will have “better control to ensure returns are made.” This is what citizens expect – and this is what we offer them,” says European Commissioner for Immigration Magnus Brunner.
During the evening’s negotiations in Brussels, the main standoff concerned the date of application of the various measures. States will have the possibility of directly initiating return centers, but other measures will only come into force one year after the publication of the law, for legal reasons in particular.
In any case, the text marks a clear tightening of the European Union’s migration policy, only two years after the adoption of the Asylum and Migration Pact, which is just now entering into force. This pact provides for reinforced “filtering” at borders and a solidarity mechanism between Member States in welcoming migrants.
The new text validated Monday evening completes it and reflects the push of the right and the far right in the European Parliament. Right-wing MEP François-Xavier Bellamy, who campaigned for tougher rules, believes that the text “will revolutionize European policy in the face of illegal immigration”.
Conversely, the left and NGOs are strongly opposed to these measures, which they consider contrary to international law. This text is the “fruit of a shameful agreement concluded between the Member States and a majority” of the right and the far right, accuses environmentalist MEP Mélissa Camara, who sees it as a “historic setback for the fundamental rights of exiled people”.
