Every time there is a spike in irregular arrivals anywhere in Europe, someone calls for increasing migrant returns as the flagship solution to the phenomenon. In Spain, the Popular Party’s obsession with immigration has led Alberto Núñez Feijóo’s party to demand an increase in returns in recent months, even going so far as to speak of “mass deportations”. The truth is that beyond Spain, the EU has been trying for years to increase its return rate, without success. And it does not only depend on the Member States; the main thing is also to look at the countries of origin.
Although it is one of the priorities of the EU’s migration policy, European data show year after year the low return rates of a good part of the member countries. But the reinforcement of expulsion policies goes beyond the will of each Community State: the European will to increase returns often comes up against the capacity or the will of the countries of origin to cooperate quickly in the return of their citizens.
A confidential report by the European Commission recently published by Statewatch assesses the cooperation of third countries with the expulsion policy of Member States. Its results show that the third countries analysed “need to improve cooperation on readmission” and call for the adoption of “new measures”. In none of the 34 countries analysed did the returns carried out reach even half of the return decisions issued.
According to their analysis, the difficulties encountered by Member States in their attempts to repatriate irregular migrants are linked to the bureaucratic procedures related to repatriations, such as the complications that arise in granting identity documents to the persons to be returned, the authorisations necessary for return operations, the requirements related to the identification or confirmation of the identity of these persons, etc.
Low return percentage
For example, in 2023, the EU returned only 8% of the 35,065 Moroccan citizens in an irregular situation. Across the EU, 2,760 people were repatriated to Morocco, one of Brussels’ main migration partners, indicating that a large proportion of its nationals subject to a return order have not actually been returned, according to the Commission’s report. Its analysis questions the specific areas where the North African country could improve, areas where Brussels is calling on member states to do more to demand better results from the Alawite kingdom.
The report presents recommendations to improve Moroccan cooperation. Among them, it considers that Morocco should refrain from a series of practices detected in the return procedure, such as the obligation to conduct consular interviews with its nationals when “sufficient evidence is provided to establish nationality”, the obligation to use certain airlines in repatriations, the limitation of the number of returnees per flight, as well as the request for “confidential information” on the persons to be returned. It also calls for a faster issuance of emergency travel documents for returnees and the acceptance of return operations on charter flights.
Algeria is also one of the countries from which the largest number of people try to reach Spain. In 2023, Member States issued 32,620 decisions to return Algerian citizens, of which 3,140 were finally repatriated, or 10% of the total. However, Algeria maintains the blockade of returns from Spain, in retaliation for the change in position of the government of Pedro Sánchez on Western Sahara.
According to the European Commission, the main problems faced by member states when trying to return Algerian nationals are linked, among other reasons, to the country’s requirements for identification procedures for people the EU intends to return, i.e. requirements to ensure that the people sent to them are indeed from Algeria. The confidential report argues that the North African country should accept broader proof of nationality from returnees, such as “expired passports or information extracted from the Visa Information System”, “promptly issue” travel documents with sufficient validity and accept return operations on charter flights.
The return rate from Senegal, another of the main states in terms of migratory flows to Spain, is also around 10%, according to the document. Of the 3,840 Senegalese citizens to whom member states have issued exit orders, only 365 have actually been returned to Senegal. The report notes that most member states consider Senegal’s overall cooperation on readmission to be poor, particularly with regard to the identification of its citizens and the issuance of emergency travel documents. Brussels highlights Senegal’s delays in responding to its citizens’ readmission requests and the difficulties in identifying its citizens, which complicates the confirmation of nationality and the issuance of travel documents.
Senegal is indeed one of the countries on which the European Commission has proposed European sanctions on visas due to an alleged lack of cooperation on return. Brussels has proposed to restrict certain facilities in terms of visa policy with this West African country, but the European Council has not yet taken a decision.
pressure path
The European Union uses its visa policy as a mechanism to put pressure on third countries to improve their cooperation on readmission. It does this through Article 25a of the Visa Code, which establishes a system whereby the European Commission evaluates the cooperation of third countries on readmission each year, in order to be able to propose sanctions to certain countries when it detects difficulties in their attempt to carry out the expulsion. However, decisions are not based solely on objective criteria, since these can be blocked for political reasons, so as not to harm diplomatic relations with certain Member States.
Through this mechanism, the Commission can propose to increase visa fees, extend the processing time for visa applications or restrict the issuing of multiple-entry or long-stay visas. So far, the Council has decided to sanction Gambia (in 2021 and 2022) and Ethiopia (since last April) through this mechanism.
The EU is also exploring the possibility of integrating readmission cooperation as an element to be taken into account in other areas of EU policy, such as trade or development cooperation. For example, it is proposed to withdraw trade preferences from countries that do not cooperate sufficiently on the readmission of their nationals.
Gemma Pinyol, Council of Europe expert and Director of Migration Policies at Instrategies, points out that in recent years, Member States have chosen to strengthen expulsion through negotiation with countries of origin as the “flagship instrument” of migration management. “Although in some countries it has worked better, there are still many doubts about what these third countries get in return. The EU has decided to negotiate to widen the margin for readmission, which gives a wide margin and more power to partner countries. If they open the door to negotiation, the third country will put pressure on them to get the best price,” explains the specialist.
“It is logical that third countries impose conditions for readmission. They have borders like all countries and they do not want everyone to enter them. Like any person who enters any country, they must be properly identified, but in the context of irregular immigration, this procedure becomes complicated,” explains Pinyol. “It is not that simple. It is not always a question of lack of will. Perhaps it does not seem appropriate for them to give an immediate response since their procedures as sovereign countries require going through the necessary filters. And to verify identity, if the person does not have papers, it is difficult because the records in some countries are weak. They tell you that they come from your country, but there are countries that have a more or less rigid control system to confirm this. And if the Member States ask for more flexibility, we must understand that this is a compensation for which these States can ask you for something in return,” he maintains. According to her, giving so much importance to the return policy, which depends on third countries, carries the risk of being excessively dependent on this negotiation process, the expert stresses.
In addition to procedural difficulties, political reasons have also been documented for low return rates. For example, Pinyol adds, some countries like Morocco may limit the number of returns on each flight because of the negative impact on public opinion of deporting dozens of citizens on a repatriation flight.
In the first quarter of 2024, Spain was the fifth country with the most migrants returned to other countries, with more than 2,500 people returned, according to Eurostat data. These expulsions exceed those of Greece (1,195) and Italy (935), the other two countries that receive the most irregular migration by sea. France is the country that carried out the highest number of expulsions, with 4,205; followed by Germany, with 3,950; and Sweden, with 3,135.
