Migrants awaiting removal and who refuse to cooperate may be detained to prevent them from absconding, the European Commission is proposing.
The recommendation is one of several “concrete” measures the Commission has put forward to make return procedures more effective.
The proposals were laid out in a letter European Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker sent yesterday to European Council president Donald Tusk ahead of next week’s European Council.
Mr Juncker said the return of failed asylum seekers remained the “weak link” in the EU’s comprehensive response to the migrant crisis.
He said only a third of those who should be returned, were effectively returned.
“This is not sustainable.”
His words reflect the growing unease of voters across Europe in the face of migration numbers that have ballooned since the Syria crisis. With crucial elections in the Netherlands this month, France next month and Germany in September, the political mainstream is worried that voters would shift allegiance to far-right parties promising a crackdown on migration.
The Commission’s tough words follow the text of the informal Malta summit held last month, which was criticised by human rights groups for failing to make reference to asylum procedures in its conclusions on Libya.
The weak link in the EU’s response to the migrant crisis
The Brussels executive is urging Member States to detain migrants with a return decision if they do not comply in the identification process and “oppose a return operation violently or fraudulently”.
The recommendations also call for shorter deadlines for asylum appeals processes and the issuance of return decisions without an expiry date.
Another proposal is for Member States to tackle migrant abuse of the system by making use of the possibility to assess asylum claims in accelerated procedures.
More drastically, the Commission said procedures could be taken at the border when authorities suspected an asylum claim was made merely to delay the enforcement of a return decision.
The EU executive urged member states to set up assisted voluntary return programmes by June 1. However, it urged countries to coordinate the return packages to prevent programme-shopping by irregular migrants.
The Brussels executive urged more coordination between authorities involved in the return process in each Member State to ensure all skills and expertise were available for effective returns while respecting the rights of the returnees.
The actions proposed by the Commission include increased financial support to member states for national return efforts and specific joint European return and reintegration activities. In 2017, the Brussels executive allotted a €200 million budget for this purpose.
The Commission called on the European Border and Coast Guard Agency to step up pre-return assistance, increase its return support unit staff and set up a commercial flight mechanism for financing returns by June.
Rather vaguely, the Commission urged the swift conclusion of readmission agreements with Nigeria, Tunisia and Jordan, while seeking to engage with Morocco and Algeria. Without readmission agreements, the EU will be unable to send back migrants.
Mr Juncker’s letter also expressed disappointment that the relocation mechanism to alleviate the pressure of migrant influxes in Italy and Greece had not yet yielded the desired results.
Few member states have met their obligations in full, 17 months after the start of the programme. Each member state was allotted a quota of migrants from Italy and Greece.
So far, only around 13,000 people have been relocated from the two countries.
kurt.sansone@timesofmalta.com