EU mulls deportation hubs to stem migration

EU mulls deportation hubs to stem migration | Daily Tribune

LUXEMBOURG, Luxembourg (AFP) — European Union (EU) countries are to discuss “innovative” ways to increase deportations of irregular migrants and rejected asylum seekers on Thursday, including controversial plans to set up dedicated return centers in non-EU nations.

Far-right gains in several European countries have helped put migration issues atop the agenda as home affairs ministers from the bloc’s 27 states meet in Luxembourg ahead of a gathering of EU leaders later this month.

Whether the bloc should explore the “feasibility of innovative solutions in the field of returns, notably the return hub concept,” will be the topic on the table at a ministerial working lunch, according to a background note to the official agenda.

The meeting comes only a few months after the EU adopted a sweeping reform of its asylum policies.

The long-negotiated package, which will come into force in June 2026, hardens border procedures and requires countries to take in asylum seekers from “frontline” states like Italy or Greece or provide money and resources.

But more than half of the EU’s member countries have said it does not go far enough.

In May, 15 of them urged the European Commission to “think outside the box,” calling for the creation of centers outside the EU, where rejected asylum seekers could be sent pending deportation — the plan to be discussed on Thursday.

“Pressure is on accelerating deportations,” Jacob Kirkegaard, an analyst at Brussels-based think tank Bruegel, told Agence France-Presse.

A growing number of governments are eager to show they are trying to “get rejected migrants off the streets one way or another,” he added.

‘Hotspots’

There are no detailed plans of how return hubs could work in practice.

A diplomatic source said one potential option entailed asking EU membership candidates — over which the bloc holds some leverage to ensure acceptable standards — to host such centres.

But sending migrants to third countries is fraught with ethical and legal questions — something that might stop the idea from ever becoming reality.

Another diplomatic source cautioned that legal and fundamental rights assessments were needed to verify the feasibility of any such project.

Last year, less than 20 percent of the almost 500,000 people who were ordered to leave the bloc were effectively returned to their country of origin, according to Eurostat, the EU statistical office.

Repatriations are notoriously difficult — they are costly and require the cooperation of the countries migrants need returning to.

According to border agency Frontex, the top three nationalities of migrants who irregularly crossed into the EU so far this year are Syria, Mali and Afghanistan — countries with whom Brussels has no or at best difficult relations.

Besides return hubs, Austria and the Netherlands have suggested legal changes to allow for the sanctioning of rejected asylum applicants who are ordered to leave but fail to do so — something that experts say could pave the way for detentions.

And Prime Minister Viktor Orban of Hungary, which currently holds the presidency of the EU Council tasked with driving the body’s work, on Tuesday called for the creation of “hotspots” to process incoming migrants outside the bloc’s borders.

Some point at a deal Italy has struck with Albania to hold and process migrants there as a possible way forward.

But other agreements the EU sealed with Tunisia, Libya and others providing aid and investments in return for help with curbing arrivals have proved hugely contentious and have faced legal challenges for exposing migrants to mistreatment.

Only last week two non-government organizations filed a lawsuit against Frontex, alleging the support it provided to the Libyan coastguard to locate migrant boats breached EU rules.