BRUSSELS (AFP) — The EU will Tuesday open the way for member states to set up migrant return centers outside the bloc, in a highly contentious move following pressure from governments to facilitate deportations.
The European Commission is to unveil a planned reform of the EU’s return system, which critics say is inadequate in its present form, including an extension of authorities’ powers to lock up irregular migrants.
Data shows that less than 20% of people ordered to leave Europe currently do so.
“For any migration management system to function, it must have a credible and effective policy on return,” a draft text seen by AFP reads. “When people with no right to stay remain in the EU, the entire migration and asylum system is undermined.”
A souring of public opinion on migration has fueled hard-right electoral gains in several EU countries, upping pressure on governments to harden their stance.
Led by immigration hawks including Sweden, Italy, Denmark and the Netherlands, EU leaders called in October for urgent new legislation to increase and speed up returns and for the commission to assess “innovative” ways to counter irregular migration.
‘Out of the way’
Most controversial is the creation of “return hubs” outside the European Union where failed asylum-seekers could be sent pending transfer home.
This is not possible at present as under EU rules migrants can be transferred only to their country of origin or a country they transited from, unless they agree otherwise.
Magnus Brunner, the commissioner for migration, is to propose to the European Parliament in Strasbourg legal changes allowing EU countries to strike deals with other nations to set up such centers.
Agreements will be possible only with countries where human rights “are respected,” and minors and families with children will be exempt, according to the draft proposal.
The text also envisages an expansion of the conditions under which irregular migrants can be detained —previously a last resort.
Authorities will be authorized to hold those considered at risk of absconding or who pose a security risk, as well as people who do not cooperate with return procedures.
Detention is also possible “to determine or verify” someone’s identity or nationality, according to the plan, which needs backing from parliament and member states to become law.
“This will give people back the feeling that we have control over what happens in Europe,” Brunner said.
Fraught with legal and ethical concerns, some experts say return hubs are an expensive and impractical idea that is unlikely to see large-scale uptake any time soon despite the commission’s proposal.
For Jacob Kirkegaard of Bruegel, a think tank, the amendments reflect a “path of least resistance” chosen by commission chief Ursula von der Leyen about divisive issues that are no longer a priority given the fraught international environment.
Brussels is currently busy dealing with U.S. tariff threats, an aggressive Russia and the prospect of a collapse in transatlantic relations.
“This is simply about political bandwidth,” Kirkegaard said. “She’s going to get out of the way” and let member states do what they want, he said of von der Leyen.
‘Harmful’ proposal
Silvia Carta of the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants called the proposal “harmful” and said it “confirms the EU’s obsession with deportations,” reflecting concerns from other rights groups.
“We can likely expect more people being locked up in immigration detention centers across Europe, families separated, and people sent to countries they don’t even know,” she said.
Britain recently abandoned a similar scheme to deport undocumented migrants to Rwanda, while Italian-run facilities to process migrants in Albania, estimated to cost 160 million euros ($175 million) a year, are bogged down in the courts.
Return hubs will conceivably face a similar slew of legal challenges if they are set up, said Olivia Sundberg Diez of Amnesty International.
“We can expect drawn-out litigation, probably costly centers sitting empty and lives in limbo in the meantime,” she said.
Yet proponents see few viable alternatives.
“If we are not going to do the return hubs, what will we do instead is my question? We have tried other systems for many years, it doesn’t work,” Johan Forssell, Sweden’s migration minister, told AFP.
Irregular border crossings detected into the European Union were down 38% to 239,000 last year after an almost 10-year peak in 2023, according to EU border agency Frontex.
—
By CAMILLE CAMDESSUS and UMBERTO BACCHI, Agence France-Presse