(Politico) The European Commission on Tuesday presented its new plan to step up the return of migrants to countries outside of the European Union, as the 27 member states brace for a fight over this politically explosive topic at a series of key meetings in the weeks to come.
EU country migration services requested 342,100 people be removed in 2021, the most recent year with full data available. Only 24 percent of them were returned to a country outside of the bloc in 2021, according to Eurostat.
The number of returns “needs to be increased,” European Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson said at a press conference in Brussels on Tuesday.
“Member states can’t solve it alone, but the Commission can’t solve it alone either,” Johansson added.
