Negotiations and divisions on the EU’s deportation bill remain entrenched among European lawmakers, ahead of a committee-level vote scheduled for 9 March.
Malik Azmani, a Dutch liberal from the Renew Europe faction, is the lead MEP on the so-called returns regulation that seeks to make it easier to expel rejected asylum seekers and deport others to centres abroad.
He was previously accused of taking onboard far-right compromise amendments that weaken safeguards allowing migrants to challenge deportation orders.
But a source told EUobserver that the latest round of talks, held behind closed doors last week in Strasbourg, suggests he is now turning towards dealmaking with Socialists & Democrats (S&D) and centre-right European People’s Party (EPP) on amendments that broadly deal with children’s rights, as well as the order of priority of triggering returns.
Azmani has yet to share the full text of his proposal with some of the other MEPs working on the file, including Estrella Galan from the Left.
Another source told this website that no compromise has been reached on the controversial article 17 of the text, which deals with setting up deportation centres outside Europe.
“The rapporteur [Azmani] may be seeking to find a compromise with the mentioned political groups,” said an EU source, citing the S&D and EPP.
French socialist Murielle Laurent of the S&D and French centre-right François-Xavier Bellamy are both leading negotiations on behalf of their groups.
Neither responded to emails on a possible new Renew, S&D and EPP front on the file.
"It's absolutely clear that the EPP won't accept a deal without the return hubs," said the source, posing questions on how the S&D intends to position itself on the issue in order make a deal.
And Azmani's office wouldn't confirm the strategy given the groups are locked into negotiations.
"We aim to work from the political centre and build constructive, workable compromises. As negotiations are still underway, we will not go into specific details," said Azmani's office, in an email.
The political pressure is also intense, following the commission’s deportation reforms presented last March.
“We ask you to continue advancing in your work so that the negotiations with the council can start without delay,” Henna Virkkunen, the vice-president of the European Commission, told the Strasbourg plenary last month.
The MEPs are set to vote on the file in the civil liberties committee on 9 March.
Meanwhile, the council, representing member states, reached a mandate in December to start talks with the European Parliament.
Families with minors will not be exempted from deportation centres, also known as return hubs, according to the council's position.
EU countries also want to expand the grounds of detention, its duration, and impose a 20-year re-entry ban for people who do not cooperate.
Nikolaj Nielsen