EU Unveils Strategy to Boost Voluntary Migrant Returns, Targeting Irregular Residents

These measures are part of the "new pact on migration and asylum", which is the European Commission’s latest solution to the migration crisis. According to Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson, "these voluntary returns accompanied by financial assistance are always the best option". She believes they are more "effective and less costly" than forced returns. "Only about a third of those who do not have the right to stay in the EU return to their country of origin and among those who do, less than 30% do so voluntarily," the Swedish commissioner specified.

The European Border and Coast Guard Agency, Frontex, is called upon to play a key role in this context, even though it has recently been in turmoil due to accusations of illegal pushbacks of migrants in the Aegean Sea. "This is not a reason to put Frontex’s activities on hold," Ylva Johansson said at a press conference. For her, the agency had many "very important tasks to accomplish". It was also defended by the Vice-President of the Commission, Margaritis Schinas, who indicated that the investigation carried out by the working group of the board of directors had not concluded on an involvement in pushbacks. He refuses to associate with a "denigration of Frontex".

In addition to providing technical assistance to EU countries, the commission also wants to strengthen cooperation with countries of origin and transit of migrants. That is why last March, Ylva Johansson said she was ready to make "proposals for visa restrictions this summer" against countries that refuse to cooperate to take back their nationals in an irregular situation. "But if we make enough progress with countries that cooperate well, we are also ready to make proposals for more generous visa policies," she had said.

Discussions are difficult on this highly sensitive issue, between the countries of arrival of migrants, who are demanding more solidarity from their EU partners, and the countries, particularly in the east of the bloc, hostile to the reception of these asylum seekers.