The European Parliament and EU member states have not reached consensus on legislation permitting home searches and establishing deportation centres beyond EU borders to expedite migrant returns.
The European Parliament and EU nations have failed to come to an agreement concerning new migrant return regulations, as lawmakers and diplomats disagreed over the implementation timeline.
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The proposed legislation, known as the “return regulation,” aims to enforce tougher measures to accelerate the deportation of irregular migrants, including creating deportation hubs outside the EU, extending detention periods, and imposing entry bans on third-country nationals without legal residence rights in Europe.
Following three negotiation rounds in Strasbourg, discussions were suspended and are scheduled to resume on 1 June. Multiple insiders reported that the sole remaining dispute revolves around when the law should take effect.
Whereas the Parliament advocates for immediate enforcement, EU member states are pressing for a delay of up to two years before most provisions apply, arguing that several governments require time to adapt their systems to the updated rules. Nonetheless, diplomats informed Euronews that all other outstanding matters, including the most contentious, have been tentatively settled.
«Considering the pressing migration challenges, we strongly opposed suggestions to postpone implementation by one or two years. Such delays are indefensible,» stated European People’s Party (EPP) negotiator François-Xavier Bellamy to Euronews.
Not all MEPs are satisfied with the legislation as a whole. Greens/EFA MEP Mélissa Camara, a participant in the negotiations who strongly criticizes the law, described the session as «a mockery of negotiations» to Euronews.
«Rather than striving for a dignified and humane text, they prioritized a trivial dispute about the law’s start date,” she remarked.
Cracking down hard
The provisional text allows national authorities to conduct searches of irregular migrants’ “residences or other relevant locations,” a clause NGOs and civil society groups have likened to the notorious raids carried out by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Such home searches must be “preceded by a judicial or administrative order” and be “proportionate and justified by the urgency of the situation.”
The regulation also permits EU states to return irregular migrants to third countries not connected to their origin, provided that bilateral agreements are in place with those non-EU countries to set up so-called “return hubs” on their territory.
This aspect was never negotiable, enjoying full backing from both Parliament and Council, with certain member states already collaborating to establish return hubs outside Europe, and the Italian government running a comparable initiative in Albania. Both MEPs and EU countries supported enabling family deportations to third countries, excluding only unaccompanied minors.
However, negotiators removed a controversial clause, supported by the European Parliament, that allowed discussions with non-recognised third entities for readmission purposes.
This proposal faced widespread criticism due to concerns about cooperation with regimes lacking democratic legitimacy, such as the Taliban in Afghanistan, despite the EU’s current collaboration with problematic governments in places like Libya, Egypt, and Syria.
The legislation will raise the maximum legal detention period for irregular migrants awaiting return from six months to two years, with an indefinite detention period for those deemed security threats. It also extends EU entry bans applied to returned individuals from five to ten years, including possible lifetime bans for security risks.
Both Parliament and member states agreed to modify the automatic suspensive effect of appeals. Currently, deportations are automatically halted pending a final court decision; the new law proposes leaving this decision to judicial authorities on a case-by-case basis.
Aligning on migration
Despite the delay in negotiations, both the Parliament and Council are aligned in their intent to enforce stronger measures against irregular migration, with a deal anticipated as early as 1 June.
The European Commission, emphasizing the need to improve return rates, aims to finalize the agreement before the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum begins mid-June. According to recent Eurostat figures, roughly 28 percent of migrants ordered to leave are effectively removed from Europe.
After reaching agreement, the final text will require formal approval by MEPs and EU member states.
Within Parliament, the EPP is expected to collaborate with far-right groups to secure passage, as seen with prior migration-related legislation this legislature, despite criticism over their joint drafting via a confidential WhatsApp chat.
Left-wing factions plan to oppose the law, with many MEPs already expressing concerns regarding its compatibility with fundamental rights.