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Maltas home affairs chief Carmelo Abela said the issue of sending back failed asylum seekers had been catapulted to the top of member states agendas because of a lack of faith in the EU Commission.

The extraordinary admission came as interior ministers from across the bloc gathered in Brussels today to discuss bold plans to finally bring the migrant crisis under control.

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It demonstrates an increasing friction between the member states and eurocrats over the issue of migration, with many national governments looking to take the issue back into their own hands amid voter outrage.

Top EU figures are set to discuss a massive increase in returns to send a message to would-be immigrants not to travel to Europe unless they are in genuine need of international protection.

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Mr Abela told reporters: The return policy will be discussed because it wasnt trusted on the Commission to come up with the proposal.

Just over a third of all failed asylum seekers in Europe are currently sent back to their country of origin, a low rate which ministers say is failing to act as a deterrent to irregular migration.

Member states are responsible for processing asylum requests and for physically sending back those deemed not to have a case for international protection.

However, the EU intervenes heavily in the return process through its border agency Frontex and via a 2010 directive, not applicable in the UK, which governs the rights of failed refugees.

And now eurocrats want to dismantle large parts of the controversial law, which they say makes it too easy for irregular migrants to indefinitely stall deportation orders.

The return policy will be discussed because it wasnt trusted on the Commission to come up with the proposal

Maltese interior minister Carmelo Abela

They want to alter EU policy to allow member states to detain migrants seekers awaiting deportation, so they cannot abscond, and to target specific nationalities which are seen to be abusing the asylum process.

Ahead of the meeting migration commissioner Dimitris Avramompoulos said: An effective return policy starts within the European Union. But we don't need new legislation or new rules. We need a better implementation of existing rules, in a coordinated way by all Member States.

Ultimately our aim is to reduce the number of irregular arrivals by making it clear to those migrants who are not in need of protection and who do not have a right to stay in the EU that they should not undertake a perilous journey to arrive in Europe illegally.

Some countries on the frontline of the migrant crisis think the measures still do not go far enough, and want to adopt a new action plan to further crack down on irregular migration.

But Estonias interior minister Andres Anvelt backed eurocrats changes and said he believed national governments were close to agreeing unanimity on a way forward.

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A migrant taunts Hungarian riot police as they fire tear gas and water cannon on the Serbian side of the border, near Roszke

He said: I fully support the new renewed action plan of the Commission. Sending back the people who dont have the legal right to be in Europe is the key action tor educe the refugee crisis.

It will send loud and clear a message to all those who want to become illegal immigrants. All together we have to speed up our returning mechanism as soon as possible.

We are very close to that. Some countries they are thinking of a new action plan. I think we have a very good return policy but we are not fulfilling it as much as possible as countries can do.

European countries issued 530,000 deportation orders to irregular migrants and failed asylum seekers in 2015, during a year in which more than a million people arrived on the continent.

But just 194,000 of those deemed to have no right to stay - a pitiful 36 per cent - were ever actually send back to their home countries, with the rest finding ways to stay in the EU.

See original here:
EU states to seize control of migrant return policy from eurocrats - Express.co.uk