Five European countries – Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria and Greece – reached an agreement this Friday to create "return centers" in countries outside the European Union. The model was defined with the aim of starting to send migrants with rejected asylum applications to these facilities as early as next year.
The Danish Minister for Immigration and Integration, Morten Bødskov, stated that they are "moving towards a fundamental change to the European common migration and asylum system." The official refused to call the "return hubs" just a different name for detention or deportation centers, guaranteeing that these are "opportunities."
This agreement represents a significant change in the European approach to migration, by establishing structures outside EU territory to process the return of people whose asylum applications have been rejected. The five countries involved intend to implement the model from 2027.
