LONDON: Failed asylum seekers will be deported by bus, train, and unmarked police cars, until they are “finally removed” from the European Union under a plan drawn up by European officials.

They would be “escorted” out of the EU in an attempt to “terminate the illegal residence of third country nationals”, according to the hitherto secret proposal. Any “legitimate measure” would be used to prevent them escaping. The plan, proposed by the EU’s Italian presidency and leaked to the London- based Guardian newspaper, reflects an increasing determination among EU governments to step up the pace of deportations.

Last month the Italian presidency came up with a radical proposal for the EU to set an annual quota for the number of asylum seekers accepted in European countries. Its new plan is designed partly to overcome the reluctance of one EU state to accept deportees from another for fear they will simply stay in that second EU country or claim asylum there.

Failed asylum seekers in this way can be passed from one member country to another, EU governments argue. Lack of any agreement on this between member states means that all deportations have to take place by air or sea.

Under the proposed EU directive, “third country nationals who are the subject of removal orders” would be escorted by guards throughout their journey across member states. They would be deposited when they reached their country of origin or the last “safe” non-EU country they had passed through.

“Use may be made of public carriers such as scheduled buses, trains, or unmarked police cars,” it says . As a general rule, it says, a “transit operation shall take place within 36 hours”.

The EU state requesting deportation would pay its partners for their help. Escorts would be allowed to “take reasonable and proportionate action to deal with a serious and immediate risk so as to prevent the third country national from escaping or from causing injury to himself or to others or damage to property”. Escorts would not carry weapons and they would wear civilian clothes.

The plan, part of what the proposed directive describes as the EU’s programme to combat illegal immigration and trafficking in human beings, and manage the external borders, was obtained by Statewatch, an independent European human rights watchdog.

The proposed EU directive, its authors say, would not impinge on the sovereignty of member states. Illegal immigrants should not be deported to countries where they face the threat of the death penalty, torture, or “inhumane treatment”.

Tony Bunyan, editor of Statewatch, said on Thursday he was not convinced by the assurances. “How safe are migrants being transported in unmarked police cars or vans?”, he said. “Will we ever know what happened to them if they do not arrive at their destination?”

In a related proposal, the Italian presidency also wants to establish regular joint EU flights for what it calls “rational repatriation operations”. They would carry illegal immigrants to their country of origin or the last “safe” country they passed through.

The planned directive deporting illegal immigrants by land is not automatically binding on Britain or Ireland because they have an opt-out. However, Britain has voluntarily adopted a number of EU measures in these areas.

Britain’s Home Office said the proposal, to be tabled next month, would require detailed consideration. Britain was “actively participating” in talks, a spokeswoman said, “to create dignified sustainable returns” of failed asylum seekers.—Dawn/The Guardian News Service.