The European Union should apply a strict but humane set of rules to ensure asylum seekers are removed efficiently if their applications are refused, VVD MEP Malik Azmani has said.

Azmani, who is responsible for the European parliament’s returns policy as a member of the liberal Renew group, called for. a network of “hubs” to be set up outside the EU’s borders to house people who have been sent home.

“People shouldn’t have the feeling that if they can get inside the EU, they won’t be sent back,” Azmani said as he presented the first draft of his plans in Brussels, which will form part of the European Migration Pact that comes into force next year.

He called for a uniform set of rules to be applied by all member states and co-ordinated so that rejected asylum seekers can no longer avoid deportation by moving to a different country.

“Good arrangements on returns are necessary to ensure public support for migration policy,” he said, noting that only 20% of people who are refused asylum actually go back.

But he stressed that the policy should be humane, striking a different tone from his party colleagues in The Hague who supported Geert Wilders’ plans for much harsher immigration curbs. “Despite the obligation to repatriate, we must not lose sight of the fact that this is about people,” he said.

Cut to zero

The VVD also said in its election manifesto that the Netherlands’ capacity should be the main factor in deciding how many people are let in and asylum numbers could potentially be cut to zero if necessary.

Azmani said voluntary repatriation should be the EU’s preferred option for people with no right to asylum. “It is evident that voluntary repatriation is more sustainable, more appropriate and more efficient,” he wrote.

He added that the principle of non-refoulement – making it illegal to send people back to countries where they would be in danger – should remain intact. The VVD in The Hague wants to abolish the right to claim asylum once in the Netherlands and send back all refugees who arrived uninvited at the border.

The “return hubs” should only be used as a means of last resort, Azmani said. But he said European countries should be able to refuse asylum seekers who had already been rejected by other members and the European Commission should impose tougher penalties on countries that refused to receive them.

“People will soon get the message once: ‘You must go back’,” Azmani said. “And if you try to go from one country to another, you’ll keep coming up against the same decision.”