The Council of State on Friday limited the system of “refusals of entry” to internal borders, recalling that they must be part of bilateral agreements providing for neighboring countries to take back foreigners who have passed through their soil.
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Concretely, the highest administrative court annuls a sentence of the code governing the law of foreigners (Ceseda) which, in substance, allowed, in a large number of cases, the refoulement to the internal borders of the EU of foreigners who entered the territory illegally. .
Justification put forward: the provision in question
"does not limit"
these refusals of entry
"to cases in which they are taken with a view to readmission"
of the person concerned to the border State of transit.
Refusal of entry into the territory must be done through an admission procedure.
“It is a victory in the sense that the refusal of entry, which was in a gray area, must be subject to European and international legislation
,” said Me Patrice Spinosi, lawyer for the ADDE (Association for the Defense of the rights of foreigners) which had referred the matter to the Council of State.
Assuring that the refusal of entry must now be done as part of a readmission procedure, he promised:
“we will be very vigilant”
on the application.
The Council of State specifies that
“it is up to the legislator to define”
the rules applicable to foreigners
“who have been the subject of a refusal of entry with a view to their readmission”
.
A readmission agreement makes it possible to facilitate the removal of foreigners by limiting formalities, but with a legal framework in particular on detention, appeals and the possibility of requesting asylum.
France has signed several agreements, notably in 1997 in Chambéry with Italy, through which many migrants pass.
Refusal of entry is also part of a specific procedure, but defenders of foreigners regularly denounce breaches of the law.
It can intervene at internal borders since France reestablished them in 2015 to fight against terrorism.
France cannot escape European regulations
The Defender of Rights had, in observations sent to the Council of State, considered that readmission procedures to Italy were
“very rare”
.
She had warned about several points during the entry refusal procedures: variable use of interpreters, placement in a cramped and uncomfortable
“shelter”
area , no legal assistance...
“This decision satisfied, it puts an end to the regime of refusal of entry
,” Patrick Henriot, secretary general of Gisti, told AFP.
Anafé, another association for the defense of foreigners
,
estimated
on
asylum”
.
The European Court of Justice (CJEU) had already ruled in September that France could not, in all cases, turn back foreigners who entered its territory illegally at the border.
“With a view to the removal of the person concerned, the common standards and procedures provided for by the “return” directive must still be respected”
, specified the CJEU, in allusion to the European directive providing that the non-European national can
“benefit from a certain period of time to voluntarily leave the territory”
.