State of play

AuthorEisele, Katharina
Pages13-15
The Return Directive 2008/115/EC
13
3. State of play
3.1. The European Commission's 2018 recast proposal
The Commissi on published a recast propo sal for the Return Di rective i n Septem ber 201 8.77
This recast proposal was presented without an accom panying Commission impact as sessment.
This drew criticis m from many, including the European Parliament's Committee o n Civil Liber ties,
Just ice and Home A ffair s (LIB E). 78
Given t he lack of an impact a ssessment, the L IBE Comm ittee asked the Eu ropean Parliamentary
Res earch Service (EPRS) to con duct an EPRS targeted s ubstitut e im pact assessm ent. The f indings
of t his impact assess ment were pres ented in a LIBE Co mmittee h earing on 29 Ja nuary 2019, a nd
publish ed in Febr uary 2019.79 This impact assessment concluded, inter alia, that:
1) there is no clear evidence supporting the Commission's claim that its pr oposa l wo uld l ead to more
effective returns of irregular mig ra nts;
2) t he Comm ission pro posal complies with the pr inciple of s ubsidiarit y, bu t some pr ovisions raise
proportionality concer ns;
3) the Commission proposal would ha ve an impact on s everal of irregular migrants' social and
human rights, including likely breaches of fundamental righ ts;
4) the Co mmission pr oposal would generate substantial costs for Member Stat es and the EU; and
5) t he Commission proposal raises ques tions of coherence with other EU legis lation, especially
legisla tion that is pen ding.
The Co mmis sion's recast proposal is currently under negotiation (rapporteur: Tineke Strik,
Greens/EF A, the Netherlands). The rapporteur published her draft r eport on 21 Febr uary 2020. 80
77 Europe an Commi ssio n, proposal for a directive of the Europe an Parl iament and of the Council on common standard s
and procedures in Member States for returning illegally staying third-country nat ional s (re cast) COM(2018) 634,
12 September 2018; see also Diaz Crego, M., Recasting the Return Directive, EPRS, European Parliament, June 2019.
78 See, inter alia, Europ ean Economi c and Soci al Committe e (EESC), Opini on on t he proposal for a di rect ive of the
European P arliame nt and of the Counci l on common standards and proce dures in Me mber Stat es for retur ning
illegally staying third-country nationals (recast), rapporteur: José A ntonio Mor eno Díaz, co-rapporteur:
Vladimíra Drbalová, adopted in plenary on 23 January 2019, para. 1.5 thereof; EU Agency for Fundamental Rights
(FRA), Opinion 1/2019 on the rec ast Return Directive and its fundamental rights implications, 10 January 2019; EDPS,
Formal comme nts of the EDPS on the Commission proposal for a directive of the European Parliament and of the
Council on common standards and procedures in Member States for returning illegally staying third-country natio nals
(recast), 10 January 2019; Meijers Committee standing committee of experts on inter national immi gration, refugee
and c rimi nal l aw, CM1816 Comments on the proposal for a directi ve on common st andards and procedur es in
Member States for returning illegally staying third-country nationals (recast), COM(2018) 634 final, 27 November 2018;
European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE), Comments on the Commission Proposal for a Recast Return Directive
COM(2018) 634, 30 November 2018.
79 Eisel e K., The propose d Return Directive (recast) Substi tut e Impa ct Asse ssment , EPRS, European Parliament, February
2019.
80 Draft report on the proposal for a dir ecti ve of the Europe an Parl iament and of the Council on common standards and
procedures in Member States for returning illegally staying third-country nationals (recast), (COM(2018)0634),
Committee on Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs, rapporteur: Tineke Strik, 21 February 2020 (reference in the EP
Legislative Observatory).

To continue reading

Request your trial

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT