The agreement was reached after negotiations within a centrist coalition failed to find consensus between lead negotiator Dutch liberal Malik Azmani (Renew/VVD) and the EPP Christian Democrats. Azmani did not want to include the detention of children in his proposal, nor the separation of families with children.
Therefore, on Monday evening, the Christian Democrats agreed on further-reaching rules for the return of people whose asylum applications have been rejected or who reside illegally in the European Union, with support from conservatives, nationalists, and the far-right. Dutch MEP Tineke Strik (S&D, GroenLinks/PvdA) called the hardened stance contrary to European norms and values.
Deportation
An important part of the controversial proposal is the possibility to transfer immigrants to so-called return centers outside the European Union. In these reception centers, people can be housed while awaiting their asylum application or, after rejection, their eventual deportation. The opposition in Strasbourg speaks of 'deportation' and 'prisons'.
Promotion
EU countries will also have more leeway to detain migrants longer when they do not cooperate with their return. The rules expand the possibilities for detention and impose more obligations on asylum seekers to cooperate with authorities. However, since conservatives and nationalists want less EU influence, a provision requiring member states to align their asylum decisions with European rules has been removed.
The now tightened proposal also makes it possible to send migrants to another non-EU country willing to accept them, and not exclusively to their country of origin. This is intended to make deportations easier to carry out. In doing so, EU politicians appear to agree with the camps that Italian Prime Minister Meloni has already had built in Albania, which were declared unlawful by an Italian judge.
Deadlock
Negotiations on the new asylum law have been difficult over the past two years. The liberal rapporteur of the file, the Dutchman Azmani, tried for some time to reach a compromise between center-right, liberal, and center-left factions, but those talks eventually broke down.
Subsequently, right-wing factions drafted an alternative compromise text that on Monday evening in the legal committee received support with 41 votes to 32. A vote in the full European Parliament is still pending, likely at the end of this month. It is not yet certain whether the less strict proposal prepared by Azmani (but rejected by the EPP) will be brought to a vote.
After that, the asylum ministers of the 27 EU countries must also adopt a final stance before the rules can be implemented.