Abstract
Irregular migration management finds itself high on the political agenda of the European Union with the aim to establish a clear, fair and transparent common return policy respecting fundamental rights. Thus, in 2008, the EU adopted the Return Directive that became a subject of vast criticism by academics as well as practitioners due to its controversial nature. The main object of critique has been claims that the Return Directive does not provide sufficient fundamental rights protection for irregular third-country nationals during the return procedure and is thus not in compliance with general principles of EU law.The thesis aims to study the fundamental rights protection in the Return Directive in the light of the Charter of Fundamental Rights and general principles of EU law. While the concerns over the Return Directive’s compliance with the fundamental rights principles continue even now, they have demonstrated a slight shift, which provides reason to question whether the Directive really is as insufficient as initially feared. The thesis sets to examine whether the alleged fundamental rights shortcomings in the Return Directive can be salvaged by the application of the Charter and general principle of EU law. In carrying out the research the thesis aims to study whether the Return Directive entails any shortcomings to provide sufficient fundamental rights safeguards during the return procedure and whether these shortcomings appeared because of the flawed work of legislators or were caused by the Member States whilst applying the Return Directive.
The thesis is composed of five parts, beginning with the Introduction and ending with the Conclusions. The form of methodology adopted throughout is therefore doctrinal.
| Date of Award | 2017 |
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| Original language | English |
| Awarding Institution |
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| Supervisor | Andrea Biondi (Supervisor) & Simona Talani (Supervisor) |