The European Commission is set to propose new rules on deporting migrants entering the bloc illegally, according to three European Union diplomats.
A draft directive on returns could be circulated to member countries’ permanent representations as early as February, the diplomats told POLITICO’s Brussels Playbook. The proposal is expected to be a priority for the Commission, reflecting mounting pressure from capitals, including Rome and Warsaw.
The Commission is currently consulting EU capitals to determine the specifics of the directive, one diplomat said. Migration regulations are notoriously complex, involving overlapping national, EU and international law.
A few principles are likely to feature in the new directive, including defining rights and obligations for migrants who have exhausted legal options to stay in the EU and clarifying rules for deporting them to third countries — which could either be their country of origin or a place where they have spent a significant amount of time.
Another possibility under discussion is restricting the freedom of movement of migrants selected for deportation by ordering them to “check in” to a migrant center, allowing authorities to keep tabs on migrants at risk of vanishing, the same diplomat said.
But such centers are legally fraught, as shown by Italy’s landmark scheme to send migrants to detention centers in non-EU country Albania. The policy has been controversial from the outset and plagued by court fights.
Since the EU adopted its Return Directive in 2008, the push for more and quicker deportations has grown. Europe has shifted markedly right on migration in recent years at both the national and EU levels, with far-right parties making major gains on an anti-immigrant platform and right-wing forces increasingly influential in Brussels.
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