Returns diplomacy: levers and tools

In 2016, 42% of asylum-seekers who received an instruction to leave stayed in Europe, amounting to at least 130,000 people. What could the EU do to improve its returns bargains with third states?

Over the years 2015-17, 2.5 million first-time asylum seekers applied for protection in the EU. With the EU-wide asylum-recognition rate currently standing at 60%, hundreds of thousands of people will be required to return home again. The chances of them actually going back are slim: in 2016, 42% of asylum-seekers who received an instruction to leave stayed in Europe, amounting to at least 130,000 people. And even this paints too rosy a picture: the EU-wide success rate is dragged up by member states which receive large numbers of asylum claims from the Western Balkans – for the EU’s largest member state, Germany, this group constitutes around 90% of all successful returns.

The simple truth is that most EU member states, for a number of historical reasons, have no returns relationships with major African, Middle-Eastern and Asian source countries.

ESO: Information Guide: European Migration Challenges http://www.europeansources.info/record/information-guide-european-migration-challenges/

ESO: Background information: Commission reports on first deliverables under the Partnership Framework on migration with third countries, December 2016 http://www.europeansources.info/record/commission-reports-on-first-deliverables-under-the-partnership-framework-on-migration-with-third-countries/

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