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BRUSSELS: The European Union is expected to reach a deal on a migration reform to create so-called “return hubs” outside the bloc, with some states raring to go.
European lawmakers and countries should agree on a tightening of immigration rules concocted in response to political pressure across the 27-nation EU to curb migration.
“People with no right to stay in the European Union must be returned effectively,” EU migration chief Magnus Brunner wrote on social media as talks were underway.
“This is what the new rules will provide: more control over who can come to the EU, who can stay, and who must leave.” Criticised by human rights groups, the measures will notably allow for the opening of centres outside the EU’s borders to which migrants whose asylum applications have been rejected could be sent.
Plan envisages harsher penalties for migrants who refuse to leave, including detention and entry bans
They also envisage harsher penalties for migrants who refuse to leave, including detention and entry bans. Some in the bloc, including France and Spain, have questioned the effectiveness of return centres, which the International Rescue Committee (IRC), an NGO, has described as “legal black holes”.
“Far from fixing the problem they purport to address, i.e. reducing irregularity, these proposals risk trapping more people in precarious situations, and will cause deep harm to migrants and the communities that welcome them alike,” said Olivia Sundberg Diez of Amnesty International. But a group of countries, including Denmark, Austria, Greece, Germany and the Netherlands, has nevertheless ploughed ahead exploring options to set them up.
Rwanda, Uganda and Uzbekistan are among a dozen nations that have been scouted as potential partners to host such centres, sources said in April. One source later confirmed that contacts were ongoing with several nations.
Deterrent
European governments have sought a tougher stance amid hardening public opinion on migration that has fuelled far-right electoral gains across the continent. With migrant arrivals down, the focus in Brussels has turned to improving the repatriation system, which currently sees about 20 percent of people ordered to leave actually returned to their country of origin.
As part of the push, the European Commission said this month it invited Taliban officials to Brussels for talks on returning migrants to Afghanistan in a move fraught with practical and ethical concerns.
Return hubs could facilitate the deportation process, hosting migrants with no right to stay in Europe pending repatriation to their home country. Austria announced in April it would sign a deal with Uzbekistan to that end — eyeing in particular the deportation of Afghans. Proponents say return hubs could act as a deterrent and discourage migrants from attempting to reach Europe in the first place. Critics instead point to the hurdles faced by similar projects.
Britain abandoned a scheme to deport undocumented migrants to Rwanda, while Italian-run facilities to process migrants in Albania have faced legal challenges and a slow uptake. Irregular border crossings into the EU detected by authorities fell by 40 percent in the first four months of 2026, compared with the same period last year, according to the EU’s border agency.
Published in Dawn, May 21st, 2026
