The adoption of the new EU Return Regulation by the European Parliament marks a clear regression from fundamental rights standards and risks undermining core principles of EU law and the values on which the European Union is founded.
The adopted text endorses an approach that prioritises coercion over effectiveness, weakens essential safeguards and undermines fundamental rights. It risks producing the opposite of its stated objective and will push more people into irregular situations instead of increasing returns.
Europe needs return policies that work. Effective migration management cannot be built on return hubs, mass detention, punitive enforcement measures, or practices that disproportionately affect families and children. As PES Migration & Integration Network chair Ana Catarina Mendes said during the last meeting, return systems can only be effective and legitimate when they are grounded in fundamental rights, legal safeguards, and credible alternatives.
The text adopted by the European Parliament falls short of these principles. The European People’s Party (EPP), together with far-right groups, once again joined forces to advance an approach that risks undermining fundamental rights and essential safeguards.
The Party of European Socialists will continue to stand for a migration policy based on responsibility, solidarity, and respect for fundamental rights. Europe must address the root causes of irregular migration through expanded legal pathways, stronger integratio measures, and deeper cooperation with partner countries.
Effective return policiesand the protection of fundamental rights are not contradictory objectives. Europe can deliver policies that are both fair and effective, while remaining true to the principles of dignity, proportionality and the rule of law that define the European project.
