The European Union is toughening its stance towards non-EU countries that take back citizens deprived of the right to stay | European Union

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The EU can use development aid, trade policy and visa access as “leverage” over non-EU countries that are believed to have failed to take back their citizens who have been denied the right to remain in Europe, according to a draft statement seen by the Guardian.

The EU’s 27 leaders could endorse a plan at a summit in Brussels next month to use “all relevant EU policies, tools and instruments, including development, trade and visas as well as legal immigration opportunities” as “leverage” over migrants’ countries of origin.

The draft reflects a growing momentum to get tough with non-EU governments — usually in the Middle East, Africa or Asia — deemed unhelpful in taking back their citizens denied the right to remain in Europe. In the first half of 2022, 179,600 people were ordered to leave an EU member state, but only 33,600 returned to their countries of origin, a return rate of just 19%.

The European Union has long struggled to return people denied their right to return to their countries of origin. Improving the return rate is a top priority for European interior ministers, who will meet in Stockholm on Thursday, where they will discuss a proposed overhaul of the bloc’s asylum and migration policies.

The move to a tougher policy is likely to be welcomed by many EU capitals which have faced a rise in people arriving as illegal immigrants through land and sea crossings. In 2022, 159,410 people will arrive in Europe via various Mediterranean routes, the highest number since 2017, according to the United Nations Refugee Agency. The agency reported that 1,953 people died or went missing that year while trying to reach Europe.

But this approach has sounded alarm bells for anti-poverty campaigners and is likely to face criticism in the European Parliament.

This approach fails to “prioritize human rights, because it treats people as pawns in EU trade negotiations and development policy,” said Evelyn van Romberg, Oxfam’s head of the European Union office.

She continued, “The EU’s obsessive focus on outsourcing immigration responsibilities does not align with their constant pronouncements about equal partnership with non-EU countries. Instead, the EU is bullying them into achieving their own parochial political goals.”

“Aid is meant to help people out of poverty, not stop migration.”

The European Union is the world’s largest donor of development aid, and the leaked paper does not explain how these funds can be linked to compliance with their revenue targets.

The Netherlands, a destination country for many who arrive in Italy or Greece, called on the European Commission this week to submit proposals for the use of trade, visa and development policy, as well as test legal routes for people who come to Europe for a temporary stay to reduce irregular migration and promote returns.

Sweden, which took in more refugees per capita than any other EU member state during the migration crisis in 2015, is also calling for a similar approach when it comes to people denied the right to stay. Sweden’s ambassador to the European Union, Lars Danielson, told reporters earlier this month, when his country began a six-month term as chair of the EU Council’s rotating presidency.

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“Islands are always easier,” Danielson said, citing aid programs for non-EU countries. “But we also need to look more carefully… at our position,” he added, referring to the Generalized Scheme of Preferences, the EU policy that reduces or eliminates duties on a wide range of imports from low- and middle-income countries. The commission described GPS, which covers more than 70 countries in Africa, Asia and the Middle East, as a policy that alleviates poverty and creates jobs.

The ambassador said that no conclusions had been made, but that “we have to put everything on the table.”

Pressure will also be applied near the house. According to the draft summit outcome, EU leaders will urge neighboring countries to align themselves with the bloc on visa policy. This reflects anger towards Serbia over the lack of visa requirements for many countries, which makes it easier for illegal immigrants to travel to the European Union via the Balkan country.

Dutch lawmakers from across the political spectrum last year called Serbia a “center of illegal immigration”. Serbia, a candidate to join the European Union, now requires visas for more countries, but diplomats believe it should go much further in aligning with the union.

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