EU rules on illegal migrants anger human rights groups[fr][de] 

The stakes were high at the plenary vote. If certain last-minute amendments put forward by a number of Socialist MEPs had acquired a majority, the delicate compromise acheived just two weeks ago by national governments and a majority of the political groups in the European Parliament would have been considered dead (EurActiv 17/06/08). This would have further delayed the introduction of EU-wide minimum rules by two or more years before a new compromise could have been reached, MEPs explained. 

The vote is considered a significant step towards the establishment of a common EU immigration policy – a goal agreed at the Seville Council back in 2002. Two more directives are also awaiting approval by the Parliament: measures to promote legal immigration by skilled workers (the so-called 'Blue Card' directive) and another directive that would punish employers of illegal immigrants, thus discouraging clandestine work. 

The European Parliament has already left a significant mark on the Returns Directive, succeeding in passing 73 amendments to the text originally proposed by the Commission in 2005. Key changes demanded by MEPs include the introduction of additional safeguards and limits to the use of coercive measures. 

Yet the final compromise was nevertheless deemed "flawed" by many MEPs from the Socialist Group, the Greens and the small leftist political group GUE/NGL, who refused to support it, saying it breached EU human rights standards.

Despite particular doubts, the Alliance of Liberal Democrats for Europe (ALDE) played a pivotal role in the directive's approval, supporting the compromise in a tight vote, which ended with 369 MEPs in favour, 197 against and 106 abstentions.

Justice, Freedom and Security Commissioner Jacques Barrot supported the compromise, saying it gives priority to voluntary returns as well as to the protection of the rights of children and families. He added that the Commission would monitor the implementation of the legislation to ensure that the standards of the European Convention and the UN Declaration on Human Rights were observed. 

ALDE-Group Leader Graham Watson, who recently attacked Sarkozy's plans to crackdown on illegal migration in interview (EurActiv 17/04/08), welcomed the breakthrough this time round. "We are moving towards a European migration policy at a quicker pace. Just a day after the European Commission presented its asylum plan and stepped up the search for a common approach to immigration, there is agreement on the handling of illegal non-EU citizens. I hope that our commitment to a human, efficient and sustainable management of migration will be taken on by the French presidency and put into action", Watson said. 

The chairman of the European Parliament's Civil Liberties committee, Belgian MEP Gérard Deprez (ALDE), reacted to the politicians and NGOs who had wanted more safeguards against possible human rights violations. "Today the realists have won the vote over the idealists. Of course we also would have liked to see a directive that would set higher common standards. But political reality shows that by amending this directive we would have ended up with nothing at all. It would have given the member states the possibility of burying the directive. Illegal migrants would have been the victims of good intentions," Deprez stated.

But Amnesty International's EU office slammed the text adopted for failing to guarantee the return of irregular migrants in "safety and dignity". It regretted the excessive period of detention of up to 1.5 years as well as an EU-wide re-entry ban for those forcibly returned. Amnesty also urged the member countries "currently applying higher standards not to use this directive as a pretext for lowering them".

The Greens/EFA group condemned the adoption of the Returns Directive by the European Parliament. Commenting on the vote, Greens civil liberties spokesperson Kathalijne Buitenweg said the European parliament had adopted a law that falls "below acceptable standards of civilisation". Among other criticisms, she deplored that Parliament had given the green light for EU member states to also return people to countries of transit, despite the potentially devastating consequences. 

"For example, a Congolese person returned to Morocco will most probably be detained or end up with no option but to reside there illegally," she said.