EU discusses deportation hubs to stem migration

LUXEMBOURG

EU countries on Thursday discussed "innovative" ways to increase deportations of irregular migrants and rejected asylum seekers, including controversial plans to set up dedicated return centers outside the bloc.

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.

Brussels said that ministers would consider whether the bloc should explore the "feasibility of innovative solutions in the field of returns, notably the return hub concept."

"We must not rule out any solution a priori," France's new Interior Minister Bruno Retailleau said as he arrived for the meeting.

The talks come only a few months after the European Union 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 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.

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 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.

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.