EU could spend to ‘force’ migrants home

Date: 05/12/02

By David Cronin

EU FUNDS could be used to forcibly return migrants to their home countries, Justice Commissioner António Vitorino suggested this week.

At present, 22% of all cash channelled through the European Refugee Fund goes to repatriating migrants.

But one condition of its expenditure is that the migrants agree voluntarily to go home.

However, Vitorino proposed on Tuesday (3 December) that the possibility of using this money for 'forced return' should be examined.

This would cover asylum-seekers whose applications to remain in the EU have been unsuccessful.

Pro-refugee lobbyists believe migrants should not be sent home if they are likely to face persecution on return and that they should be given the right to appeal any order to quit EU territory.

'If funding is going to be used for aeroplanes to send people back, without guarantees of their safety and without provision for an appeal, then we would be against that,' said Maria-Teresa Gil, spokeswoman for the European Council on Refugees and Exile.

Vitorino said the Commission has no data about how many migrants should be sent back to their countries of origin. 'Decisions on who should be returned, how many and when, lie exclusively in member states' powers,' he said.

Founded in 2000, the European Refugee Fund is the biggest programme implementing EU policies on asylum and immigration. It has a budget of €216 million for 2000-04.

Vitorino was speaking as the European Commission unveiled a new blueprint for linking migration questions to EU relations with the wider world.

The Union's executive was asked to devise this plan by EU leaders at June's Seville summit; migration became a key topic on its agenda following the strong showing of anti-immigrant candidates in French and Dutch elections.

Chris Patten, the external relations commissioner, said the new plan 'deals with fundamental issues and not just the symptoms of the problem'.

It commits the Commission to addressing migration when it undertakes a review of its 'country strategy papers', covering aid to poor countries, next year.

Last week (27 November), the first ever agreement signed between the EU and another part of the world on readmitting migrants was reached with Hong Kong.

EU governments have also given the Commission a mandate to secure similar accords with Russia, Pakistan, Morocco and Ukraine.

EU funds could be used to forcibly return migrants to their home countries, Justice Commissioner António Vitorino suggested on 3 December 2002.