EU pinned down for its policy of returning irregular migrants

Of the 500,000 people who are ordered to leave the European Union each year, only a third of those return to their countries of origin.

REUTERS / Umit Bektas / File Photo

Text by: RFI Follow

3 min

In a report released Monday, the European Court of Auditors, a body that assesses EU policies, believes that European policy to ensure the return of irregular migrants to their countries " 

ineffective

 ".

And that this even “ 

encourages 

” irregular migration.

Advertising

Read more

Every year, 500,000 people are ordered to leave the European Union for lack of authorization to stay there.

But of that half a million, only a third of people return to their countries of origin.

And even only one in five if we consider the countries located outside the European continent.

In its audit report, which covers the period from 2015 to mid-2020, the Court of Auditors of the EU judges that “ 

the actions taken by the EU to strengthen cooperation with third countries in readmission matters were relevant, but that they (have) produced little results

 ”.

For Leo Brincat, responsible for the report, “

 the EU's return system suffers from a lack of efficiency such that it produces the opposite effect to that expected: it encourages rather than discourages irregular migration

 ".

"

 Migrants know full well that returns are not effective, so this can actually encourage them to come, 

" he said during a press briefing.

Review the agreements with the countries of origin

The report recommends that the European Commission review its policy of agreement with the countries of origin, to adopt "

 a more flexible approach when negotiating readmission agreements

 ", and " 

to create synergies with the Member States to facilitate readmission negotiations, strengthen incentives for third countries and improve data collection on readmissions

 ”.

To promote these returns, the EU has since the early 2000s concluded readmission agreements with 18 third countries (including Albania, Bosnia, Serbia, Pakistan, Georgia, Turkey, Belarus), and opened discussions with six others (Morocco , Algeria, China, Tunisia, Jordan, Nigeria).

These agreements run parallel to the bilateral readmission agreements concluded by the Member States.

The EU also negotiated between 2016 and 2018 six legally non-binding arrangements for returns and readmissions (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Guinea, Côte d'Ivoire, Ethiopia, Gambia).

According to the auditors, these non-binding arrangements are more successful, thanks to their flexible nature.

The authors of this report insist on the need for the EU to speak " 

with one voice

 " on the matter and find it " 

worrying 

" that the countries of the Union are unable to agree on a reform of the right to asylum, six years after the 2015 migration crisis.

It is often our asylum and immigration policies, or rather sometimes their absence, that create these conditions of illegality for people.

And so sometimes people have to wait for a decision for several years and when the negative decision falls, people have integrated into the country, children go to school, and it is no longer possible to go home.

It should also be understood that some countries do not accept to take back their nationals.

François Gemenne, political science researcher

Nicolas falez

Newsletter

Receive all international news directly in your mailbox

I subscribe

Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application

google-play-badge_FR

  • International Migration

  • Immigration

  • European Union