BRUSSELS Oct. 15 () –
The European Commission clarified this Tuesday that current legislation does not allow the creation of deportation centers in countries outside the European Union to transfer them while waiting for their definitive expulsion to the country of origin to be resolved, so any step along this line would require first a reform of the EU rules and that is why the head of the community Executive, Ursula Von der Leyen, wanted to ask the leaders in her letter to open the debate on it.
“Currently it is not possible in the European Union to have that option,” said the community spokesperson for the Interior and Migration, Anitta Hipper, at a press conference in Brussels, before confirming that in order to implement this type of centers the bloc “would need to regulate the forced return of migrants to a country other than their own.”
Since last May, an increasingly large group of European governments has been calling for a tightening of migration policies to better control the external border and accelerate the expulsions of those who do not obtain the right to asylum.
Last week, the matter reached the table of the EU Interior Ministers after a letter from 14 countries – including Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands – and a working document from the Hungarian presidency circulated between the capitals to explore “innovative solutions” to speed up returns, for example with detention centers in third countries or with commercial punishments for countries that do not accept the returns of migrants.
In this context, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, raised the debate to the level of leaders by asking them in a letter sent on Monday to make it a matter of debate in the Council of Heads of State and Government that will be held this year. Thursday and Friday in Brussels.
In her writing, collected by Europa Press, Von der Leyen proposes “continuing exploring possible ways forward” towards the “idea of creating return centers outside the European Union”, although she warns that for this solution to be possible it would first be necessary a “legislative proposal.”
Von der Leyen evokes as an example the agreement negotiated by the Italian Government of Giorgia Meloni with Albania to open centers in this country to transfer migrants who have already requested asylum in Italy while their requests are being processed. “With the start of the protocol operations between Italy and Albania we will be able to draw lessons from this practical experience,” says the president of the Commission in her letter.
The head of the Community Executive, who will begin her second term in December, reminds the 27 that she will have a specific commissioner for the Mediterranean in her new College, to whom she plans to entrust a reform of the return directive, the review of which was already planned in this legislature although the negotiation between the Council and the European Parliament never got started.
In this context, Von der Leyen opens up to solutions that she defines as “innovative” to move towards the creation of deportation centers to transfer irregular migrants who have already arrived on European soil outside the EU, while their files are processed; despite the fact that this option was already ruled out in the past by Brussels for colliding with community legislation.
Community sources consulted by Europa Press emphasize that, in any case, this initiative would apply only to “returns”, that is, to files already resolved in which the right to asylum has been denied but their return to the country of origin is pending. or transit and not to migrants whose asylum request is still pending resolution in an EU country.
In any case, the German conservative also points out that to advance in this area, her Executive will also address throughout “next year” the review of the definition of a “safe third country”, an issue that is also controversial due to the divisions it generates. within the 27 but that Von der Leyen sees necessary to “help those seeking asylum without having to embark on dangerous journeys across the Mediterranean.”
This reflection, he defends, will be carried out hand in hand with international organizations such as the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) with the aim of achieving a “comprehensive approach” to the concept.
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