The cooperation with third countries is not ensuring that migrants under obligation to leave actually return to their countries of origin.

A report published on Tuesday by the European Court of Auditors (ECA) in Luxembourg found that during the period of 2015 to 2020, the EU only achieved limited progress in concluding readmission agreements with third countries. In addition, EU actions have not been streamlined enough to ensure that non-EU countries comply with their readmission obligations in practice, the report found.

About 500,000 non-EU citizens are ordered ordered to leave the territory every year. However, less than one in five do return to their countries of origin or to another non-EU state.

Readmission agreements

One of the reasons for the low number of returns is the difficulty EU governments face in cooperating with migrants’ countries of origin. Although the EU has concluded 18 readmission agreements, which are legally binding, and opened discussions with six other countries, the number of migrants who return voluntarily or are deported is at a low level. Recently, Brussels also negotiated six arrangements for returns and readmissions that are not legally binding but that, the Court of Auditors concluded, work much better.

“An effective and well-managed readmission policy is an essential part of a comprehensive migration policy”, said Leo Brincat, the member of the European Court of Auditors responsible for the report. “Nevertheless, the current EU returns system suffers greatly from inefficiencies that lead to the opposite of the intended effect: encouraging, rather than discouraging, illegal migration.”

While the EU did formally  engage in dialogue and launch negotiations with the countries non-returned  irregular migrants,  the  auditors noted that the  results were rather limited. Negotiations  of  EU readmission agreements (EURAs) were often jeopardised by the mandatory  inclusion of the EU’s so-called “third-country national clause” whereby asylum seekers need to apply for asylum in the first country of arrival. In contrast, negotiations of non-legally binding arrangements had been more successful,  mainly  because their contents were flexible

“Lack of synergies”

The auditors also criticized a lack of unity and synergies between EU states on the issue. “The EU has not always spoken with one voice  to non-EU countries,  and the European has Commission  has not always associated key member states in facilitating the negotiation process”, concluded the report.

As a result, some non-EU countries did not see added value in pursuing formal agreements but instead preferred bilateral cooperation with some EU countries.

The auditors also said insufficient progress had so far been made towards incentivising non-EU countries to implement their readmission obligations. The European Commission had “struggled to use other policies providing effective support for negotiations, even where it had extensive political and economic relationships.” Among the many tools the EU has at its disposal, the auditors identified tangible results only for one: the EU visa policy, whose revised provisions could, they said, be helpful in encouraging non-EU countries to cooperate on readmissions.

Author: Michael Thaidigsmann