The European Commission will propose new legislation to encourage the expulsions of irregular immigrants, announced the President of the Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, in a letter to the Twenty-Seven published on Monday afternoon, October 14.
“The Commission will present a new legislative proposal” with “clear obligations of cooperation for returnees” and the desire to “effectively streamline the returns process”indicated Ursula von der Leyen, thus responding to the request of several member states of the European Union (EU).
“We need a new legislative framework to strengthen our capacity for action”The President of the Commission explained in more detail in this letter addressed to EU countries, ahead of a European summit on Thursday and Friday in Brussels, partly dedicated to migration issues.
To this end, Brussels proposes to facilitate the expulsions of people in an irregular situation, in particular by establishing mutual recognition of decisions taken by one or another Member State.
“System deficiencies”
“We must build a level of harmonization and trust that guarantees that migrants, subject to the decision to return to a country, cannot use loopholes in the system to avoid this return to another place”explained Ursula von der Leyen.
Less than 20% of expulsion decisions for immigrants in an irregular situation are subject to follow-up, he further stressed, promising reinforced cooperation with the third countries affected, for example by tightening the granting of visas to recalcitrant countries.
“Visa policy alignment has proven to be an important tool in managing irregular movements to the EU”said Ursula von der Leyen, using Bangladesh or Ghana as an example.
The president of the Commission also suggests developing relations “strategic” with the countries of origin and transfer, as has already been done with Libya or Tunisia. The EU has signed agreements with these countries aimed, among other things, at stopping the departure of immigrants to the EU from their territory, or even repatriating them to their countries of origin.
Calls to review the “return directive”
“Returns from North Africa to countries of origin have intensified thanks to EU-funded operations to reach 17,700 [retours] in 2024 »welcomed Ursula von der Leyen.
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These agreements established in Tunisia or Libya have made it possible to reduce by approximately 66% the irregular entries of immigrants to the EU through the central Mediterranean, he stressed. But, he acknowledged, arrivals through the western Mediterranean and the Atlantic to Spain increased by 56% year-on-year at the end of September. For this reason, it recommends strengthening the EU’s association with countries like Mauritania to stop these departures.
The interior ministers of the European Union debated a further tightening of migration policy last Thursday in Luxembourg, amid calls to review the “return directive” and debate on the transfers of migrants to third countries. Several European countries have called for a review of this “return directive” of 2008 that harmonizes the rules regarding deportation at the borders. France and Germany particularly supported a note from the Netherlands and Austria on the subject to ” ease “ AND “accelerate” come back. However, a first attempt at a review in 2018 failed.
