EU Justice and Home Affairs Council discusses common system for the return of third-country illegal migrants
On 14 October, EU Ministers of Justice and Home affairs discussed a proposal on the establishment of a common system for the return of third-country nationals staying illegally in the EU.
The proposed legislation, which is currently being examined at expert level, includes a number of novel elements that should make the returns swifter, including obligations for returnees to cooperate with national authorities, and stricter rules for return of those posing a security threat.
“Across the EU we are currently only returning a small share of the third-country nationals illegally staying here. I believe this is a completely unacceptable situation… That is why we are working on new rules that make returns more efficient and numerous,” said Rasmus Stoklund, Minister for Immigration and Integration of Denmark.
Ministers agreed that more effective EU-wide procedures were instrumental in speeding up returns and in increasing actual returns of migrants illegally staying in the EU. In particular, they discussed the mandatory mutual recognition of return decisions issued by other member states. Mutual recognition means that member states recognise and enforce a return decision issued by another EU country.
According to a press release by the Council of the EU, a number of member states highlighted the fact that mutual recognition would be a strong signal that illegally staying migrants could not circumvent a return decision by moving to another EU country. Other member states pointed to the need for flexibility in applying mutual recognition, noting that different legal, practical and operational issues may make it faster and more effective to issue a national return decision in some cases.
Ministers also discussed a state of play regarding the development of the EU’s border management and law enforcement IT infrastructure. A key feature of this IT environment, the Entry/Exit System (EES), entered into force on 12 October. The EES registers entry, exit and refusal of entry of third-country nationals who cross the EU’s external borders for a short-term stay.
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