On May 15, 2026, the 46 Member States of the Council of Europe adopted the Chișinău Declaration on Immigration. This Declaration is couched in diplomatic language, but sends a clear message to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). The States:

• reaffirm their “undeniable sovereign right to decide on and control foreign nationals’ entry into and residence in their territory” (§18);
• express concern about the obstacles preventing them “to expel or extradite an individual convicted or charged with a serious offence” (§20);
• call on the ECHR to respect “the particularities of national legal systems and traditions” (§33);
• promote national borders in the face of mass immigration (§34);
• encourage new approaches to immigration, such as “return hubs” (§46).

In fact, the ECHR poses major obstacles to the expulsion of foreign criminals. European judges rely in particular on the right to private and family life of such individuals, protected under Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights. In 2024, the ECHR established a new principle: a “guarantee to come back” for any deported criminal.

Governments are not only confronted with the ECHR itself, but also with all national courts applying the Convention. In France, immigration law accounts for half of the caseload of administrative courts.

At the same time, the issue of deporting foreigners is also being discussed at the European Union level. The European Parliament has adopted its position in a first reading on the “Return Regulation.” However, several amendments—adopted with the support of a coalition of right-wing parties—were not well received by the European Commission.

Despite this, the European Parliament secured, in particular, that foreign criminals may be subject to expulsion with an indefinite re-entry ban.

This is one of the questions being debated within the institutions of the European Union and the Council of Europe: in cases of the expulsion of foreign criminals, should states be allowed to permanently bar them from returning to European territory?

On May 19, 2026, the ECLJ organized a seminar bringing together Members of the European Parliament and diplomats from the Council of Europe at its offices in Strasbourg. The aim was to take stock of the situation and hear various perspectives in order to address the challenges related to the issue of the expulsion of foreign criminals.

For further reading on this topic, we recommend our study: "The Expulsion of Foreign Criminals in Light of European Case Law," N. Bauer, Revue française de criminologie et de droit pénal, No. 26, April 2026.