Communication from the Commission to the Council and the European Parliament on EU return policy

The EU has been working since 1999 on developing a comprehensive approach on migration, which covers the harmonisation of admission conditions, the rights of legally staying third-country nationals and the development of legal measures and practical cooperation to prevent irregular migration flows.

This Communication focuses on EU policy on the return of irregular migrants, which — together with efficient border management, effective sanctions against employers of irregularly staying third-country nationals, and the fight against smuggling and trafficking of human beings — is an important tool for facing the challenge of irregular migration, while fully ensuring respect for the fundamental rights and dignity of the individuals concerned, in line with the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, the European Convention on Human Rights and all other relevant international human rights conventions. The return of third-country nationals without legal grounds to stay in the EU or a need to be granted protection is essential to the credibility of EU legal migration and asylum policy.

This Communication reports on the changes to EU return policy over recent years, analyses its impact, and presents some ideas for future developments. It responds to the Commission’s obligation to submit a report to the European Parliament and the Council on the implementation of the Return Directive, the main piece of EU acquis on return (see the detailed part IV of this Communication), as well as to the political commitment made by the Commission when the amended FRONTEX Regulation was adopted in 2011 to report on the monitoring of return operations coordinated by FRONTEX (see section II.4.2).

Return policy is closely interlinked with readmission and reintegration policy, and both are an integral part of the Global Approach to Migration and Mobility (GAMM), which is the overarching framework for external asylum and migration policy. Through the GAMM, the EU is working to strengthen its political dialogue and operational cooperation with non-EU countries on migration issues, including return and readmission, in a spirit of partnership and based on shared interests. While EU readmission policy is not addressed in detail here, the external dimension of return policy is a key aspect in ensuring its effectiveness and in addressing issues such as voluntary departure and reintegration of returnees in countries of origin, as well as identification and documentation of returnees.

EUR-Lex: COM(2014)199: Follow the progress of this communication through the decision-making procedure http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/HIS/?uri=COM:2014:199:FIN

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