EU countries and lawmakers delay agreement on ‘return hubs’ plan, with next round of talks set for June over implementation timeline.
BRUSSELS: EU countries and lawmakers failed to reach a deal on a migration reform to create so-called “return hubs” outside the bloc Thursday, with another round of talks set for June, the European Parliament said.
Member states and parliamentarians agree on the substance of a planned tightening of immigration rules that seeks to improve the repatriation system and boost deportations.
But differences over the timeline for implementation prevented both sides from clinching a deal and setting the reform in motion, parliament and diplomats said.
“All remaining outstanding political issues have been duly discussed and provisionally agreed with the exception of Article 52 regarding the entry into application,” the European Parliament said in a statement.
Initially proposed by the European Commission and criticised by rights groups, the legal changes were concocted in response to political pressure across the 27-nation EU to curb migration.
They notably allow for the opening of centres outside the EU’s borders to which migrants whose asylum applications have been rejected could be sent — an option countries including Austria and Germany are already exploring.
The measures also envisage harsher penalties for migrants who refuse to leave, including detention and entry bans.
Some in the bloc have questioned the effectiveness of return centres, which rights groups have slammed as “legal black holes” that could see migrants stranded in a legal limbo with little oversight.
Currently, only about 20% of people ordered to leave are actually returned to their country of origin.
