The European Union leadership and member states are currently aligning the legal framework to externalize deportation centers beyond the bloc’s external borders. Amendments to the Returns Regulation are expected to be adopted before the end of the summer, with pilot sites for “return hubs” projected for approval by the end of 2026.
The initiative aims to reform the EU’s migration policy against the backdrop of low efficiency in current procedures. According to Eurostat, only about 25–30% of expulsion orders for irregular migrants are currently enforced. The new mechanism stipulates that foreign nationals whose asylum applications have been rejected will be promptly transferred to transit camps in third countries to await final repatriation.
A group of states led by the Netherlands, Austria, and Denmark is pushing to expand this practice. They propose processing initial asylum requests on the approaches to Europe, preventing applicants from entering EU territory. Bart van den Brink, the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Migration of the Netherlands, confirmed that the concept has passed internal legal scrutiny. According to him, European governments are “shaping working solutions to regain control over migration.”
Brussels considers three regions as potential locations for the hubs:
The Western Balkans: Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, and North Macedonia. The current bilateral agreement between Rome and Tirana is considered as a baseline model.
North Africa: Egypt and Tunisia, with which the EU has already signed funding agreements in exchange for border control.
Sub-Saharan Africa: Considered as a long-term alternative.
The reform is opposed by the center-left wing of the European Parliament, including the Socialists and the Greens. Human rights organizations and relevant UN committees state that the externalization of migration procedures violates the international principle of non-refoulement (the prohibition of forced return to conflict zones) and deprives migrants of the right to full legal protection within EU jurisdiction.
Despite the criticism, proponents of the bill intend to synchronize its entry into force with the launch of the large-scale EU Pact on Migration and Asylum.