Migrant returns to be speeded up with new travel document

Labour MEP Miriam Dalli: ‘Low enforcement of return decisions in Europe are detrimental to the credibility of migration policies. Common travel document one step in the right direction’

Labour MEP Miriam Dalli: 'A step in the right direction'
Labour MEP Miriam Dalli: 'A step in the right direction'

The European Parliament’s committee for Civil Liberties and Home Affairs gave the green light to the latest EU proposal on the establishment of a common travel document to speed up the repatriation of illegally-staying non-EU nationals.

Labour MEP Miriam Dalli – one of the Parliament’s negotiators on the legislation – said the document may serve to tackle one of the EU’s major obstacles in migration policy when failed asylum seekers lack adequate documents.

Dalli, the Socialists and Democrat’s (S&D) negotiator on the legislation, said EU countries face serious difficulties when repatriating migrants back to their home countries due to the fact that the documents used to facilitate the voyage are not recognised by the countries of return.

She said low enforcement-rates of return decisions in Europe were detrimental to the credibility of migration policies.  “While the common European travel document for the return of illegally staying third-country nationals is no magic solution, however it is one step in the right direction.”

MEP Dalli said that a single, unified EU document was a “diplomatic tool” especially for smaller member states who might not have strong ties with certain countries of origin.

She also tabled a total of 19 amendments focusing on the reduction of bureaucracy and the safeguarding of fundamental rights.

Amnesty: resettlement framework 'cynical'

Amnesty International has said that a separate, EU-wide resettlement framework would use resettlement as a tool for migration control rather than to provide assistance to vulnerable refugees.

The proposed Union Resettlement Framework sets out how the EU member states might implement resettlement programs in the future but fails to mention any need to increase current numbers.

Under the scheme, the Council would establish annual resettlement plans which would fix the total resettlement number and member states’ quotas for the following year as well as indicate the overall geographical priorities. The European Commission would then establish targeted resettlement schemes tailored to specific regions or third countries, which are a source of migratory flows to the EU.

The proposal comes as states around the world prepare for September’s UN meeting to address large movements of refugees and migrants and negotiate the draft Global Compact on Responsibility-Sharing for Refugees.

“The proposals the Commission published today are not about improving refugee protection globally, but about reducing irregular arrivals to Europe. They take good tools, like resettlement, and put them to bad ends; they use fine words, but these mask some pretty cynical intentions,” said Iverna McGowan, Head of Amnesty International's European Institutions Office.

“What the Commission is really trying to do with these proposals is resettle some refugees, so they can return more. In the absence of any mention of the need to significantly increase resettlement numbers and heavily invest in conditions for refugees in third countries, the net impact of these proposals for refugee protection globally is very likely to be negative.”