EU Parliament adopts new Return Regulation: MPG warns of widening human rights gaps

26 March 2026 vote in the European Parliament marks a significant step towards the adoption of the new EU Return Regulation, a development that raises serious concerns about the direction of EU migration policy.

Reacting to the vote, Carmine Conte, Senior Legal Policy Analyst at the Migration Policy Group (MPG), said:

“This vote confirms a worrying shift in EU return policy towards enforcement at the expense of fundamental rights. By expanding detention, including the risk of detaining children, introducing return hubs outside the EU, and increasing coercive measures, the Parliament has endorsed an approach that risks undermining the EU’s core values. Our research shows that return systems across Europe already suffer from serious gaps in safeguards, and this regulation risks making those gaps even wider.”

MPG’s recently launched Migrant Return Policy Index (MIREX) provides important context for this development. The index finds that return policies across Europe are already structurally imbalanced, with enforcement measures prioritised over dignity, rights protection and long-term sustainability .

Across 11 countries assessed, MIREX highlights:

• Weak human rights safeguards, scoring just 46 out of 100
• Heavy reliance on detention, with limited use of humane alternatives
• Minimal access to regularisation pathways and sustainable solutions
• Limited involvement of civil society and independent monitoring

Against this backdrop, today’s vote risks further entrenching these trends rather than addressing them.

“If return policies are to be effective and legitimate, they must be grounded in rights, safeguards and credible alternatives,” Conte added. “The EU still has an opportunity in the next stages of the legislative process to rebalance this approach and ensure that fundamental rights are not sidelined.”