Exclusive: EU migrant return law will not include ‘return hubs’
The upcoming legislation on the return of migrants from the European Union to their country of origin will not include the so-called “return hubs” outside the EU territory, a source familiar with the draft law told Euronews.
The legislation, which will be presented next Tuesday in Strasbourg during the European Parliament plenary session, aims to create harmonised rules across the bloc on the procedures for returning non-European citizens to their countries of origin when their asylum applications are rejected.
Return hubs were envisioned as centres in third countries outside the bloc where rejected applicants could wait to be sent back to their country of origin.
As Euronews previously reported, the European Commission was exploring the possibility of introducing such hubs. Several member states, including Austria, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Italy, Latvia, and Malta, supported the move.
Many civil society organisations see the return hubs as highly controversial, pointing out that these centres could lead to endless detention and human rights violations. Current EU law forbids authorities from sending migrants against their will to countries with which they do not have a connection.
Some attempts to create similar models — like the one by Italy in Albania, for instance — have been heavily criticised as inhumane and ineffective.
Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni agreed with her Albanian counterpart Edi Rama to send 36,000 irregular migrants to the Western Balkan country while awaiting the asylum application’s final response.
However, the project has been suspended, as announced by the Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi this week.
This is not the first time the EU attempted to introduce legislation on returns. During the last legislative mandate, the bloc approved a comprehensive package of laws to regulate migration management in the EU, called the Pact on Migration and Asylum.
The return law ended up not getting approved due to strong opposition by the European Parliament to proceed.
