The Ministry of the Interior has sent a written statement to the Committee of Permanent Representatives (COREPER) of the European Union in Brussels, in which it expresses its rejection of the Return Regulation, which is still pending approval, a text that contemplates the establishment of detention centers in third countries.
"Spain maintains its enormous concern about return centers," reads the statement from the Ministry of the Interior, which Europa Press has accessed. Sources from the department insist that they maintain their "frontal opposition" to this proposal.
In the document, the Ministry of the Interior warns that the initiative "causes legal uncertainty and offers limited guarantees," and emphasizes that "even families with children may be transferred to return centers in countries with which they have no ties."
"All Member States are assuming a great responsibility and an unacceptable risk; there is a high risk of litigation due to possible violation of the principle of non-refoulement enshrined in the European Charter of Fundamental Rights, as well as in the European Convention on Human Rights," the Ministry of the Interior stated in its letter.
Spain will begin to apply the new European Pact on Migration and Asylum (EPMA) this Friday and, according to the Ministry of the Interior, will do so "with a guarantor and respectful approach" to the rights of migrants and asylum seekers, as conveyed by the Spanish delegation attending the Ministerial Conference organized in Nicosia by the Cypriot EU presidency on the occasion of the pact's entry into force.
In this context, the department headed by Fernando Grande-Marlaska has reiterated the Government's refusal to create return centers in third countries and has ruled out resorting to them in Spanish immigration policy due to the "serious doubts" raised by their "legality and proportionality."
With the implementation of the EPMA, the Ministry of the Interior will cease to recognize and renew temporary residence permits for humanitarian reasons linked to international protection, such as those granted in recent years to Venezuelan citizens.
Deprivation of liberty and operational doubts
In the declaration sent to COREPER —the main preparatory body of the Council of the European Union—, the Ministry of the Interior also questions the operational functioning of detention centers in third countries. "If there is no family, social, or economic link, Spain wonders what incentive the transferred person will have not to try to return to the Union when their life prospects in an unknown third country are scarce," the document states.
As an example, the Ministry points out that detention ceases to be a measure of last resort and the maximum period of deprivation of liberty is extended to 24 months, "with potentially indefinite extensions," and even the possibility of "chain detentions in different Member States without any time limit" is contemplated.
"One must wonder if the Union will allow people in an irregular administrative situation to be deprived of liberty for periods longer than those applied to criminals convicted of serious offenses," the Ministry of the Interior has stated, warning of the implications this regulation would have for fundamental rights.