Portuguese Interior Minister Eduardo Cabrita, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, indicated that, according to Commission data, only a third of people who enter the EU irregularly acquire thereafter the right of asylum. The others, in theory, should return to their country of origin. In 2019, of the 490,000 people who received a deportation order, 142,000 eventually left the EU, or less than 30%.
For years, the EU has signed agreements with 18 countries including Turkey, Albania, Cape Verde and Belarus, in order to increase the rate of return of their nationals. But without much success. He also agreed on certain conditions of return with 79 African countries including Morocco or Guinea and with Afghanistan, the Caribbean and the Pacific.
For the Commission, repatriation operations often encounter problems of identification of migrants and recognition of their nationalities by their country of origin. “I am ready to propose before the summer measures to restrict visa policy,” said Ylava Johansson, European Commissioner for the Interior, after the meeting.
In the Canary Islands, arrivals increased in 2020, and reached more than 22,000 according to Frontex. In January 2021, the numbers doubled. In all, 90% of irregular arrivals are Moroccan and Algerian nationals.
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