“There is a new consensus in Europe,” said Charlie Weimers, the Swedish negotiator for the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists group. “The era of deportations has begun.”

 

“There is a new consensus in Europe,” said Charlie Weimers, the Swedish negotiator for the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists group. “The era of deportations has begun.”

Swedish MEP Charlie Weimers (ECR) made these remarks on March 26, 2026, following the European Parliament's vote to adopt a new EU Returns Regulation.

The legislation represents a significant shift in EU migration policy, designed to speed up the deportation of illegal immigrants and rejected asylum seekers.

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Criticism and Context

The move has been heavily criticized by human rights organizations like the International Rescue Committee, which described the vote as a "historic setback" that risks brutalizing migrants and bypassing fundamental rights. Conversely, Weimers and his allies framed the result as the end of a "failed migration policy" and the beginning of a stricter, more enforceable era of border control