The European Council has reached agreement on a raft of policies, which will set the direction for the EU’s new asylum and migration system.
The agreement between member states, reached on Monday, comes only six months after the European Council, on 26 June, called for efforts to facilitate, increase and accelerate returns to be intensified.
However, the latest plans agreed this week have been sharply criticised by some.
They include Marta Welander, EU Advocacy Director of the Brussles-based International Rescue Committee, who said the move
“marks the dawn of a dangerous new era for the EU’s migration and asylum system.”
Welander added,
“The files agreed upon paint the clearest picture yet of the increasingly punitive scheme that lies ahead – from ramping up deportations, to extending detention including for children and families, and giving states more opportunities to diverge from agreed rules when it’s politically expedient for them to do so.
“It’s real people and families, many of whom have already faced untold traumas, who will face the harsh reality of these choices – being forcibly removed from their homes, torn apart from loved ones, detained for months or years on end, or sent back to countries where they risk facing torture, abuse or worse.
The IRC’s teams in Greece have witnessed how holding people in de-facto detention, in a state of legal limbo, can devastate their mental and physical health.
These latest developments repeat the same mistakes – only with greater force and fewer safeguards.
“The EU urgently needs to rethink its plans, and prioritise humanity. It needs to shift its focus from deterring people from reaching and staying in Europe at all costs, to investing in welcome, reception and integration.
And it needs to scale up safe routes such as refugee resettlement, so people have opportunities to enter Europe and contribute in ways that have been repeatedly proven to benefit everyone.
“Europe has the means and the ability to do better, upholding both its own laws and values.
We urge policymakers to press pause on these dangerous developments, and instead chart a course that is truly humane, effective and sustainable.”
An EU Council spokesman said, however, that the plans will
“speed up and simplify the procedures for the return of persons illegally staying in the member states. The regulation creates EU-wide procedures for their return, imposes obligations on those who have no right to stay and puts in place tools for cooperation between member states. It also enables member states to establish return hubs in third countries.”
Danish immigration minister Rasmus Stoklund also strongly defends the move and said,
“Three in four irregular migrants who have been issued a return decision in the EU, continue to stay here instead of returning home.
I am delighted that we have agreed on a new EU return regulation. I believe the new set of rules significantly can help improve these numbers.
For the first time illegally staying third country nationals will have obligations. And member states will have a much better toolbox – for instance it will be possible to detain for a longer period and entry bans will be longer.”
The Minister added,
“On top of that today’s agreement will make it possible for both the European Union and one or more member states to make an arrangement or agreement with a third country on return hubs.”
