The role of the EU Return Coordinator is a novelty of the New Pact on Migration and Asylum. The EU Return Coordinator's main task is to bring together different strands of EU return policy, supporting its consistent and coherent implementation, and to establish a common EU system for returns.
The European Commission appointed Ms. Mari JURITSCH as EU Return Coordinator, in March 2022.
The High-Level Network for Returns
The EU Return Coordinator works closely with the High-Level Network for Returns, which consists of senior representatives from institutions responsible for returns in Member States and Schengen Associated Countries, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex) and the European Union Agency for Asylum (EUAA).
The Network focuses on providing practical and operational support to Member States to increase the effectiveness of the overall return process. Importantly, the Network identifies how to make the best use of available opportunities and common instruments. As Member States’ national return systems and operational realities vary greatly, the Network's aim is to connect those dealing with a particular challenge with those who have already established a good practice or a solution. Furthermore, through targeted return actions, the Network aims at linking Member States’ return activities more closely with EU and Member States’ engagement with third countries on readmission. This way, the Network supports the EU’s overall efforts to strengthen cooperation with third countries in the field of return.
The work of the EU Return Coordinator and the High-Level Network for Returns is guided by the Operational Strategy for More Effective Returns. The EU Return Coordinator chairs the Network meetings, which take place 3-4 times per year.
