Algeria and the problem of returning and readmitting irregular migrants
8.4.2021
Question for written answer E-001900/2021
to the Commission
Rule 138
Mathilde Androuët (ID)
According to Die Welt[1], the Commission is preparing to target 13 countries that have been deemed non-cooperative with regard to returning and readmitting irregular migrants. Algeria is not on this (unofficial) list.
However, the November 2020 report on the state of relations between the EU and Algeria[2] highlights:
the ‘striking’ number of irregular Algerian migrants arriving in Spain;
the large number of Algerian people travelling to France who are overstaying their visas;
the fall in and low rate of evictions to Algeria between 2018 and 2019, a rate which is ‘considerably lower than average for third-country nationals’.
According to the same report, some Member States ‘have concluded bilateral return and readmission agreements’ with Algeria. However, one of the major obstacles is that the EU has had a ‘mandate to negotiate a readmission agreement since 2002’, and ‘Algeria has so far not confirmed its agreement to start negotiations’.
What action does the Commission intend to take to remedy this situation? Does this mean that the situation is even worse with the 13 ‘non-cooperative’ countries referred to above?