EU accelerates repatriations in anti-migration campaign

2025-12-11 08:28:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

Migrants could be sent to "return centers" abroad under new reforms criticized by human rights organizations.

Reading Washington's latest security strategy, which criticizes European migration policies and claims that the continent faces a 'disappearance of civilization,' you might think the EU is opening its borders completely.

In fact, irregular migration to the bloc is decreasing, and EU states have just adopted the most restrictive migration rules to date, aimed at making it easier for members to detain and quickly repatriate rejected asylum seekers.

Denmark's Migration Minister, Rasmus Stoklund, said the new reforms would help repair a "dysfunctional" EU system and restore a sense of "control".

However, these measures have also drawn harsh criticism from human rights defenders, with Amnesty accusing the EU of imitating the "painful, inhumane and unlawful mass detentions, deportations and repatriations taking place in the United States of America."

Sending migrants to detention centers abroad?

The series of reforms backed by EU interior ministers on Monday includes legal approval for the idea of ??so-called “return centres.” This could mean detention centres outside the EU, where migrants could be sent to process asylum claims, or even as part of a one-way ticket out of Europe.

The revision of the rules, which still needs to be negotiated with the European Parliament, would allow EU governments to reach agreements with countries outside the EU's borders and send migrants there, even when they have no ties to the country.

Although Denmark began exploring ways to send migrants to Rwanda in 2021, the first EU member to do so was Italy. Last year, it set up centers in neighboring non-EU country Albania, but in Rome the centers ran into legal problems and were suspended.

The Italian Interior Minister said on Monday that the agreement between ministers leaves the Albania-based centers in a good position to become the first real example of an EU return center and to "re-establish" operations.

However, migration policy analyst Helena Hahn said it "remains to be seen" what return centers beyond the Italian model will look like and, above all, which countries outside the EU will be willing to accept migrants aiming for Europe.

"Avoidance of responsibility"?

NGOs and activists, including Human Rights Watch and Oxfam, have in the past criticized the EU for "avoiding its responsibility" by trying to delegate the processing of asylum claims.

"The EU is trying to transfer even more of its responsibilities to countries that already host the majority of refugees and often have far fewer resources," dozens of NGOs said last year.

In their statement, they insisted that the EU's promises to protect migrants' rights were "empty words".

Denmark's Stoklund rejected the accusations on Monday. "When we send someone to a return center, we will be responsible for respecting their human rights," he told reporters after talks in Brussels.

Faster deportation through the designation of "safe" places

EU member states also backed new proposals aimed at speeding up deportations, with tougher penalties for migrants who ignore deportation orders. This follows an earlier agreement on EU plans to reduce the level of trade relations with countries that do not cooperate on deportations.

Ministers also gave the green light to a centralized list of "safe" countries that national authorities can use to speed up decisions and deny residence permits to those least likely to be granted asylum.

For example, only about 4% of Bangladeshis who applied for asylum in the EU last year were accepted, and Bangladesh tops the list of countries considered safe by Brussels. Other countries on the list include India, Colombia, Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia.

The ministers agreed that candidate countries for EU membership, such as Montenegro, Moldova and Serbia, should also be considered safe, except in cases of conflict or restrictions on fundamental rights.

Southern coastal states like Greece say they need help from other EU members to process asylum claims from people arriving on their shores.

Redistribution of migrants or payment for their maintenance

EU states have finalized a plan that, according to analyst Helena Hahn, counteracts to some extent the trend towards increasing restrictions.

The so-called "solidarity fund" would see member states in northern and eastern Europe either accept more migrants from southern states, where most asylum seekers arrive, or contribute to a fund to support countries such as Cyprus, Spain, Italy and Greece.

Hahn describes this as "a mechanism for organising and coordinating the sharing of responsibilities between member states regarding asylum seekers" and believes it is a "big step".

"Issues related to placements, quotas and the 'fair' distribution of asylum seekers across Europe have long been one of the main sensitive political issues that have hindered the implementation and functioning of the Common European Asylum System," she explained.

Details of which countries will pay what remain secret, but Hungary, an EU member, has already promised not to follow the rules, which could lead to future legal battles between Brussels and Budapest.

Voters and the rise of the far right

EU citizens often cite irregular migration as one of their main concerns. According to data from a survey conducted across the European Union earlier this year, citizens ranked it second, after Russia's war in Ukraine, on a list of the biggest challenges facing the EU, ahead of the cost of living, climate change and security and defence issues.

Far-right parties that focus on anti-migrant messages are gaining popularity in many EU countries, while centrist forces are trying to win back votes.

"We are facing a very restrictive migration agenda," researcher Helena Hahn told DW, noting that more and more countries are trying to find so-called "innovative solutions" to deter, detain and deport migrants.

"But so far we've seen very few results," Hahn explained. "So I think it says a lot about the political viability of some of these ideas, which seem to suggest that it would be quite easy to move people from A to B, regardless of specific political, diplomatic or practical circumstances."/ DW