Ursula von der Leyen
As Euronews notes, the proposed “controversial project” has raised a reasonable question among many: does this initiative comply with EU human rights standards? Even though migrant return centers “in third countries” outside the EU are presented in the project as innovative measures to reduce irregular migration.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen believes that the current return rate of about 20 percent of irregular migrants is “insufficient” and should be increased. The proposed measures should contribute to this.
The European Commission’s proposal envisages the possibility of establishing return centers in third countries on the basis of agreements concluded either bilaterally or at the European level. However, the implementation and legal validity of such agreements remain difficult, the EU structures admit. They cite as an example a similar protocol between Italy and Albania on the accommodation on the territory of the latter of illegal migrants who were denied asylum in Italy. The protocol never worked, as this practice was stopped through the judiciary.
Thomas Tobe, a supporter of the draft EU regulation on the return of migrants, deputy chairman of the European People’s Party group, disagreed with this comparison. He explained that the European proposal calls for the use of return centers only for people whose asylum applications have already been rejected. Tobe defended the need for cooperation with third countries outside Europe:
“I’m not saying it’s easy. We don’t choose our neighbors in Europe. I hear a lot of criticism from the left, but also from the far right. And they are basically saying we shouldn’t cooperate. But then you don’t have a solution,” Euronews quoted Thomas Tobe as saying.
The publication notes, however, that in 2018, the European Commission said that return centers located outside the country are illegal. In this regard, critics argue that today ideas once associated with the far-right are increasingly becoming part of mainstream EU policy.
