European Parliament toughens repatriation rules, adopting a hardline approach backed by right‑wing parties

Brussels – The right-wing majority in the European Parliament has secured the repatriation regulation proposed a year ago by the European Commission, which provides for the possibility of deporting migrants residing illegally in the European Union to detention centres in third countries. Following the approval of the member states, in December, the Civil Liberties, Justice, and Home Affairs Committee (LIBE) has now given its backing, once again highlighting the fragility of the “pro-European platform” comprising conservatives, socialists, and liberals. And Brussels’ new hard line on immigration.

 When the vote reached the parliamentary committee, the three governing coalition groups were hanging by a thread. The text of the rapporteur, Dutch liberal Malik Azmani, was considered too harsh by the socialist family, and negotiations broke down. This was a perfect assist for the European People’s Party, the real master of the game in the European Parliament, which immediately presented an even tougher compromise text, drafted with the support of conservatives (ECR), Patriots (PfE), and Sovereigntists (ESN). To avoid leaving the field open to the right, the socialists asked to postpone the vote and return to work on a text that contained greater guarantees for fundamental rights, but the request was denied. At that point, the MEPs on the LIBE committee rejected all the compromise amendments to the first text proposed by Azmani, and approved the alternative ones: the EPP’s compromise, backed by the far right, passed with 41 votes in favour and 32 against. 

The mandate to start ‘trilogues’ (interinstitutional negotiations with the EU Council to finalise the regulation) will most likely be contested, as already announced by The Left group. Therefore, the text adopted by LIBE will have to go through another reading in the Chamber. However, the numbers in the European Parliament reflect those in its committees: together, the EPP and the far-right groups have a majority. 

“The text proposed by the Patriots group, together with the EPP, ECR, and ESN, introduces numerous innovations that we strongly support,” said Susanna Ceccardi, MEP for the League and the Patriots for Europe group. “The green light for return hubs, i.e., external structures and agreements to manage repatriation outside the EU, with Italy leading the way in Europe thanks to its agreement with Albania,” but also “the ban on mandatory re-entry for migrants who have already been forcibly repatriated and the possibility of longer detention periods, the end of so-called ‘bogus appeals’ and new cooperation obligations for migrants, such as searches of mobile phones to verify their identity.” 

For Cecilia Strada, MEP for the Democratic Party, “the right wing is celebrating, but it’s as if they were celebrating racial laws or the ICE deporting children.” They are celebrating “a text that will imprison families with children, people who have done nothing wrong, before deporting them to countries they have never set foot in.” In the trilogues with the EU Council, there is a risk that the regulation will become even tougher. The position supported by the Member States includes an article that would open the door to widespread investigative measures and house searches, with the risk of allowing raids by law enforcement agencies in public spaces and private homes to search for undocumented migrants. The rapporteur for the alternative compromise approved by LIBE, François-Xavier Bellamy, said on the sidelines of the vote that, although this article does not appear in the Parliament’s text, in principle, there would be no reason not to allow the law to be applied while protecting migrants subject to a return order.