Five European Union countries agreed Friday on a common model for 'return hubs' located outside the bloc, with officials aiming to begin transfers as early as 2027.
The deal, reached after a one-day meeting in Copenhagen, was announced by Denmark's minister of immigration and integration, Morten Bødskov, alongside counterparts from Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Greece. The five nations have been negotiating with governments mainly in Africa over potential sites.
'We are moving forward toward what is actually a fundamental transformation of the common European migration and asylum system,' Bødskov said.
He rejected characterizations of the hubs as detention or deportation centers, saying the International Organization for Migration and the U.N. Refugee Agency would monitor the facilities. 'We are not talking about camps, we are talking about opportunities,' he said.
But both of those agencies distanced themselves from the plan. UNHCR told the Associated Press it 'has not been approached with details of such a proposal' and could not comment on specific arrangements. IOM said no decision had been made on its potential role, calling discussions 'exploratory' and noting it had provided only 'technical advice to some EU Member States on safeguards and operational considerations.'
The ministers did not name the third countries under consideration, though Bødskov said he expects a first deal by early 2027. He acknowledged that the 'return hubs' concept was mocked just a few years ago as incompatible with EU and international law — a legal landscape that has since shifted 'due to public and political pressure for tougher measures against irregular migration,' according to the source report. European lawmakers voted in June to let member states set up such centers on their own or in small coalitions.
'This is something new and it's groundbreaking,' said the Netherlands' minister of asylum and migration, Bart van den Brink.
In early August, a spokesperson for Rwanda's government, Yolande Makolo, told Royal FM Kigali it 'was natural' for Rwanda to negotiate with European governments on hosting asylum seekers with nowhere else to go, citing an existing transit mechanism in Gashora established in 2018. 'We want to be part of a solution to a big global problem,' Makolo said.
Human rights groups have criticized the proposal, arguing European governments cannot guarantee migrants' rights will be respected in third countries. The Council of Europe's Commissioner for Human Rights, Michael O'Flaherty, said 'vague assurances of compliance with human rights law are not enough' and that 'states need to commit to the guardrails necessary to prevent setting up human rights black holes.'
The European ministers in Copenhagen maintained the hubs would abide by European and international law.
The episode illustrates a broader shift in Brussels away from the borderless-migration consensus that dominated EU policy for a decade. Voters across the bloc have punished governments seen as indifferent to uncontrolled migration, and the June vote allowing offshore centers reflects that political reality, not an abstract legal theory imposed from above.
For a policy built on national sovereignty and enforceable rules, the real test will not be the diplomatic language in Copenhagen but whether these five governments can actually secure and fund third-country deals — and whether the taxpayer, not just the migrant, gets a system that finally works.
