EU states oppose putting lid on migrants' detention
EU member states have failed to agree the maximum period an migrant can be kept in detention after setting foot onto the union's territory, further prolonging nearly three-year-long wrangling between EU institutions.
On Wednesday (7 May), EU diplomats discussed the draft of a return directive, which would set out common rules on how to deal with Europe's eight million migrants found to be here illegally, including the length of time they can be detained and banned from re-entry.
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The draft law suggests a maximum detention policy of six months, with the possibility of extending it to up to a total of 18 months, but only in very specific circumstances.
According to the Reuters news agency, more than 10 countries voiced their opposition towards the text.
Currently, the maximum detention period is decided by each government. For example, France has a 30-day limit on detention, while Malta have an 18-month maximum and the UK imposes no limit.
Last month, Maltese interior minister Carmelo Mifsud Bonnici was cited as saying by the Malta Star that his country prefers that the detention arrangements remain in the hands of member states "because of our particular circumstances".
Austria, Germany and Greece are also reported to have reservations about EU-wide rules on the issue.
In addition, the draft EU law has already been attacked by Socialist members of the European Parliament and non-governmental sector, although for different reasons. They consider the six-month detention period too long.
According to the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE), a network of 63 organisations active in asylum policy affairs, detention should only be used as a last resort.
"We consider that systematic detention of people who have committed no crime, including families and vulnerable persons is inhumane and unwarranted," the NGO says.
ECRE also opposes the idea of member states being able to impose a five-year-long entry ban on immigrants' return to the EU, claiming such a move could be an obstacle to family reunification as well as to the right to international protection.
"Changes in a country of origin, and thus the individual's need for international protection, cannot be predicted," reads the statement.