Common system for the return of third-country nationals staying illegally in the Union (Return Regulation)

Procedure 2025/0059(COD) (ordinary legislative procedure) concerns “Common system for the return of third-country nationals staying illegally in the Union (Return Regulation)”; the committee responsible is LIBE (Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs). Completed: Published in the Official Journal on 15 Oct 2026. Parliament held roll-call votes on 2 days, most recently on 17 Jun 2026 (final vote): adopted with 418 votes in favour, 218 against and 30 abstentions.

Reference

2025/0059(COD)

Type

Ordinary legislative procedure

Official title

Establishing a common system for the return of third-country nationals staying illegally in the Union, and repealing Directive 2008/115/EC of the European Parliament and the Council, Council Directive 2001/40/EC and Council Decision 2004/191/EC

Status

Completed, 1st reading

Lead

LIBE Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs

Budgetary assessment

BUDG Budgets

Rapporteur

Malik Azmani (Renew, Netherlands)

Shadow rapporteurs

Estrella Galán (The Left, Spain), Mélissa Camara (Greens/EFA, France), Murielle Laurent (S&D, France), François-Xavier Bellamy (EPP, France), Charlie Weimers (ECR, Sweden), Marieke Ehlers (PfE, Netherlands), Mary Khan (ESN, Germany)

Roll-call votes in Parliament

• Common system for the return of third-country nationals staying illegally in the Union (Return Regulation) (A10-0048/2026), 26 Mar 2026: roll-call vote, adopted, 389 for, 206 against, 32 abstentions
• Common system for the return of third-country nationals staying illegally in the Union (Return Regulation) (A10-0048/2026), 17 Jun 2026: final vote, main vote: A10-0048/2026 – Malik Azmani – Provisional agreement – Am 4, adopted, 418 for, 218 against, 30 abstentions; plus 2 more roll-call votes

Votes in the Council of the EU

• 1 Oct 2026: Council (Justice and Home Affairs), Adoption of the legislative act: adopted; Member states: 23 for, 1 against, 1 abstention, 2 not participating. Against: Spain; Abstained: Belgium; Not participating: Denmark, Ireland. Result at the Council of the EU

Timeline

1. 12 May 2025: Appointment of a rapporteur

1st reading

1. 16 Jun 2025: Proposal referred to plenary
2. 30 Oct 2025: Parliamentary committee tabling report
3. 9 Mar 2026: Adoption of a report by the EP committee responsible
4. 10 Mar 2026: Tabling of a document to European Parliament plenary sitting
5. 26 Mar 2026: Interinstitutional negotiation (4 times, most recently on 1 Jun 2026); Endorsement of the EP committee responsible decision to start interinstitutional negotiations by the EP plenary
6. 15 Jun 2026: Approval of the provisional agreement with the Council by the EP committee responsible
7. 16 Jun 2026: Debates in European Parliament plenary sitting (agenda)
8. 17 Jun 2026: EP position at 1st reading
9. 7 Oct 2026: Signature
10. 15 Oct 2026: Publication in the Official Journal

• All procedures

Source: European Parliament, Open Data Portal (procedures, agendas, roll-call votes), CC BY 4.0, prepared by OpenRCV. Votes in the Council: Council of the European Union, voting results (consilium.europa.eu), reused with acknowledgement of the source under Decision (EU) 2017/1842; population figures from the Council’s Rules of Procedure (Annex III, Official Journal of the EU). Procedure file in the Legislative Observatory (OEIL)