The European Commission plans to intensify pressure on illegal migrants and speed up deportations in the face of low repatriation rates. “I will propose a new law to establish a European return system. This will include the obligation for returnees to cooperate with authorities and harsh consequences if they do not” said the EU’s Commissioner for Home Affairs and Security, Magnus Brunner, in an interview with the Welt am Sonntag.
“The result must be that if a return decision is made, it is actually enforced” Brunner added. According to Welt am Sonntag, citing informed sources, Brussels plans to present a legislative proposal for a new return system on March 11. “Currently, only about one in five people against whom a return decision has been made, leaves the EU. This is not acceptable” Brunner, a former Austrian finance minister, said.
According to Eurostat, the EU’s statistics agency, more than 480,000 third-country nationals were ordered to leave the EU in 2023, but only in every fifth case did it actually happen. The repatriation rates vary greatly among the member states.
The EU currently operates under the 2006 Return Directive. The Commission’s authorities will focus on rejected asylum seekers who have committed crimes in the EU when drafting the new legislative proposal. Brunner said, “There are also cases where dangerous individuals who need to be returned, slip through the system and commit crimes. The rules for returnees who pose a security threat must be much stricter, including the possibility of detaining people to prevent them from being at large while their return is being prepared.”
In addition to a new return strategy for illegal migrants, Brunner, as the EU Commissioner for Home Affairs and Security, will present a legislative proposal to improve security in Europe in March or April, according to Welt am Sonntag.
“I will present an EU strategy for internal security that brings together the different working strands. We will, among other things, double the resources for Europol, take a harder stance against illegal weapons trade and put organized crime under pressure” Brunner said. He called for security to be considered from the outset in all policy areas.
Brunner highlighted the EU’s role in combating illegal weapons trade, noting that such crimes are currently handled very differently in the EU. “The prison sentence for illegal weapons trade varies between four months and 15 years in different member states. And 3D-printed weapons, for example, are still not criminalized anywhere. I will propose new EU rules to establish a common standard” the Austrian politician said.