This Wednesday, the European Parliament gave its final approval, with massive support from the right and the extreme right and a very broad rejection from left-wing groups – who speak of a “European Guantánamo” – to the return regulation. This is the European regulation that makes it possible for rejected migrants, including families with minors.
The regulations now have nothing left but to receive ratification from the States, a step that is taken for granted due to the strong support that this measure has received. The clearest exception among the large countries is Spain, which continues to express its rejection of a project that raises strong doubts regarding respect for fundamental rights.
The regulations have been ratified by MEPs by 418 votes in favor, 218 against and 30 abstentions. The session ended with enthusiastic applause from the right wing of the European chamber in Strasbourg, who shouted “send them back” (send them back). Meanwhile, critics of the proposal responded with “shame on you” (shame).
All the far-right MEPs present voted in favor – from the Patriots parliamentary groups, including the legislators from Vox, Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN) and the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) of Giorgia Meloni – and from the European People’s Party (EPP) with a single exception, the Irish Marie Walsh, who voted against, in addition to three other conservative legislators who abstained. All the MEPs of the Spanish PP have supported the regulations.
The Socialists and Democrats (S&D), the Left and the Greens have largely rejected it, while the Renew liberals have divided a vote that has also reflected the sensitivities of many countries regarding this issue. Among the few social democrats who have supported the proposal, against the group’s line, are three Danes – the Government of the social democrat Mette Frederikssen was one of the pioneer countries in launching the idea of return centers in third countries – as well as three Maltese and a Cypriot, as well as a Romanian and a Latvian. Two Greens – a Latvian and a Lithuanian – have also voted yes to the regulation, which however has not been supported by any MEP from The Left.
The return regulation was what the EU was missing after, last Friday, the Asylum and Migration Pact approved two years ago came into full force, after a decade of negotiations.
“With the Migration Pact we secure the front door of the EU. With the return regulation, we secure the back door,” celebrated liberal MEP Malik Azmani, rapporteur of the regulations in the European Chamber and who has defended it as a text “balanced, legally solid and totally consistent with shared European values.”
The regulations for asylum seekers rejected in European territory, which, with a current average of 28%, are considered widely insufficient. In this framework, the regulation obliges those who have received a return order to “cooperate with the authorities.” If they refuse, they may be detained for up to 24 months, extendable to 30 in certain circumstances. It also opens the door for the countries of origin of expelled immigrants that refuse to receive them to suffer consequences, from visa restrictions to a review of the development aid they receive or trade relations if they continue to reject their return.
In this regard, the president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, assured this Wednesday in her traditional letter on immigration that she sends to European leaders on the eve of a summit – the Twenty-seven will meet from this Thursday to Friday in Brussels – that, to ensure that the countries of origin admit those expelled from the EU, incentives will be taken “to the maximum in all key sectors and policy areas, such as visa policy, trade and development aid.”
But it is the possibility of sending migrants with return orders to – the stated preferences are from Africa or even Asia – with whom they have no ties and where they will remain indefinitely, that has provoked the most criticism. Above all, because of its parallels with the most extreme immigration practices that have recently been seen in the United States, with Donald Trump. Also, because it represents a clear victory for the most right-wing forces in Europe, which have managed to impose their most radical measures, such as the inclusion of families with minors in deportation centers, a possibility that was not in the original proposal of the European Commission.
Ultra parties like Vox have not hesitated to take credit for the clear tightening of immigration policy that this regulation entails. “We have forced the hand of the EPP,” celebrated its MEP Jorge Buxadé. With this regulation “it will be possible to build large and beautiful return centers in third countries,” radical right Swedish MEP Charlie Weimers also congratulated himself during the debate prior to the vote, using the expression “big beautiful return hubs” in a nod to the rhetoric of Trump, who likes to talk about “nice and big” laws.
The EPP has nevertheless defended the regulations: “Europe is sending a clear message: immigration must be legal, orderly and compatible with the reception capacity of our societies. Without effective returns there is no credible migration policy and without control of irregular immigration there can be no confidence of citizens in the institutions,” said popular MEP Javier Zarzalejos, president of the Liberties Commission that prepared the text now validated in the chamber.
On the contrary, for socialist MEP Juan Fernando López Aguilar, “there is a real risk that these centers become de facto places of detention with little supervision and insufficient guarantees, where migrants may suffer arbitrary detentions and other human rights violations.” That is the main objection that has been raised by the Spanish Government of also socialist Pedro Sánchez, for whom the regulations do not comply with the European regulatory framework due to “the renunciation of the establishment of a truly European return system; the serious legal, foreign relations and operational doubts raised by the return centers and the lack of proportionality of certain measures”, as he said in a letter sent to the rest of the European ambassadors to the EU. We are creating “European Guantanamos beyond all control,” the Left MEP Estrella Galán (Sumar) has also criticized.
The vote in the European Chamber comes a day after European governments opened the door to financing deportation centers abroad with community funds, within the framework of an agreement reached during the General Affairs Council in Luxembourg that sets the final version of the Global Europe program, the main financing instrument for the EU’s external action for the period 2028-2034.
The agreed text indicates that this instrument “should contribute to ensuring that returns, readmission and reintegration occur in a safe, dignified, sustainable and effective manner, as well as the search for innovative solutions [como los centros de deportación]among other things to prevent and combat irregular migration.” During the Luxembourg meeting, the Secretary of State, Fernando Sampedro, once again expressed Spanish opposition to these measures: “We consider that the so-called return centers have no place within these innovative solutions and should not be financed with Global Europe,” he declared before his European colleagues.
That despite the open reluctance of Spain and the more nuanced doubts of other countries, the idea of return centers in third countries within the framework of the new regulation will go ahead is something that practically no one doubts in Brussels. So much so that Von der Leyen, in her migration letter, has announced that in the autumn the Commission will present a proposal for the digitalization of the management of files on return and readmission, “which will contribute to consolidating this common European return system,” confides the German, who also wants to expand Frontex’s mandate, “which will allow the agency to contribute even more decisively to return operations.”
