"An insult to mankind": with these words, the president of the Migration Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (ACoE) judges the proposal of the EU "to set 18 months as the max detention time for illegal migrants" in the old continent. Mevlut Çavuþoðlu, Turkish representative at the Palais de l’Europe in Strasbourg, opens a controversy with the 27-member EU on the occasion of today’s World Migrants Day. In his opinion, the Repatriation Directive of the European Union risks "locking up illegal migrants and throwing away the key"’. The ACoE Committee of the Council of Europe (47 member states, including some of the migrants’ native countries and host countries) invites "the European governments to develop some legalisation schemes" and congratulates "Spain on its implementing one such scheme". According to ACoE estimates, there are over 5 million illegal migrants in the EU. "Europe cannot neglect its responsibilities states Çavuþoðlu . It must make sure these people are socially included. Many of them have made a significant contribution to the European economy, are socially included and their children have been born and bred in Europe".
