If there is no first-reading agreement on the Return Directive, there is chance for a second reading, said the European Parliament’s shadow rapporteur on the directive, Martine Roure (PES, France). Voicing her strong disagreement with rapporteur Manfred Weber (EPP-ED, Germany) in an interview withEuropolitics, Roure said that the Socialist group will present amendments to rectify what they see as the biggest faults of the proposal.

Why are you against the current compromise on the Return Directive? What is the biggest problem you have?

The biggest problem is the detention limit – six months maximum, with the possibility of prolonging by further 12 months. We do not agree at all with these time limits, they are too long. But this is not the only problem, we have others. We also want the priority for voluntary departure, but it has disappeared from the text.

As for the legal reviews of detention, we wanted the judges to review the legality of detention between 48 and 72 hours after its start. We have said 48 hours, the European Commission 72 hours, but the Council has said that it would be done in an appropriate time. And as for the detention of minors, we did not want to see children locked up in detention centres. We want member states to set up special centres for minors with education facilities. That is not a part of the proposal either.

We also have another problem with the re-entry ban. It is very dangerous, because the expelled persons could have a big problem in their country – tomorrow, next week, in two months – and we will not be able to provide safe haven for them, it will be banned. And that is unacceptable.

These concerns aside, do you not find any positive sides at all to the compromiseproposal?

I do not see any.

So you do not think that it is better to have this text than nothing?

There are no positive points, because this proposal, due to the Council, is repressive. This is not a text defending human rights.

Would the directive improve the current situation as regards the treatment of illegal migrants in the EU?

No, it would not. The rapporteur has said that it will, for example, improve the state of things in Malta. That is not true. Ninety percent of people who are in the detention centres in Malta are asylum seekers. They are not covered by the directive, nothing would change for them. In Greece, the majority of migrants have been detained at the border. The directive does not cover them either. It only covers people who have stayed in Europe for a longer time, who have entered with a visa and decided to stay. That is all, it covers too few people.

The Parliament will vote on the proposal at the first reading in June. What will be your strategy?

We are going to present amendments. I think that these amendments will receive the majority’s vote, because they will be supported by the PES, the Greens, the GUE-NGL and a part of ALDE. And if these amendments are adopted, we will support the compromise. And then we will have a second reading.

Is there a chance of a second reading? The rapporteur says there is none, not for five or ten years…

That is a lie.

During the trialogue, were you sufficiently consulted by the rapporteur? Did you have enough chance to influence the outcome?

No. The rapporteur worked with us at the end, but before that, he worked completely alone with the Council. We were not involved. He has worked with us for the past three months.

But he says that it is not his fault that the PES shadow rapporteur changed…

Yes, but I used to be the coordinator and the spokesperson of the Socialist group, so I worked very closely with the former shadow rapporteur. There was no interruption.