Deportation flights from the Canary Islands to Morocco and Mauritania

Question for written answer  E-001427/2021
to the Commission
Rule 138
Sira Rego (The Left)

As reported by various social organisations, deportation flights from the Canary Islands to Morocco and Mauritania (the latter having resumed a few months ago) are a regular occurrence with fixed schedules and a fixed number of seats.

As the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights has highlighted in multiple reports, such as ‘Being Black in the EU’[1], deported persons are not guaranteed the right to due process, which places enormous pressure on migrants trapped in the Canary Islands, in so far as they are often arrested in everyday life situations and racially profiled.

Given that collective expulsion is prohibited under international law:

• 1.Does the Commission consider that the guarantees set out under EU law, specifically Directive 2008/115/EC, are being observed with respect to these expulsions from the Canary Islands?
• 2.Does the Commission consider that the deportation of third-country nationals to Mauritania is consistent with EU law and the aforementioned directive?
• 3.Is the Commission using EU funds to pay for these deportation flights from the Canary Islands either in their entirety or in part?

• [1] https://fra.europa.eu/en/publication/2018/being-black-eu