The tightening of European migration policy is taking shape. Germany, Austria, Denmark, Greece and the Netherlands agreed this Wednesday in Copenhagen on the “model” and “roadmap” with which they hope to soon be able to close agreements with third countries to build the controversial deportation centers outside the EU to which to send irregular migrants, including families with minors. After a summer in which the Ceuta crisis has given wings to the hardest line, there is a rush: according to the Danish Government, they want to close the first agreement with one of the candidate countries at the beginning of 2027 to start sending those expelled before the end of next year.
“Around the New Year we hope to close an agreement with a country outside the EU (…) Our goal is to be ready to send people who do not have the right to be here by the end of 2027,” said the Danish Minister for Immigration and Integration, Morten Bodskov, after holding a meeting where a “concrete and clear roadmap” was also agreed upon, in the words of his Greek counterpart, Thanos Plevris, which will allow “deepening” the technical discussions with third countries that have been going on for some time. underway.
Despite the repeated failures of previous occasions, such as Denmark's attempts to close an agreement with Rwanda, or the center in Albania that Italy has managed for two years with great costs and few results, the new talks are increasingly "fruitful", Plevris congratulated himself. “We hope to be able to announce a country next time,” he added at a press conference with his European counterparts, without revealing the names of the candidate countries to take care of the immigrants that Europe does not want. The Europeans who support deportation centers – around twenty of the Member States – primarily favor one country in Africa.
Under cries of send them back from the most ultra factions, the European Parliament gave final approval in June to the return regulation that includes the possibility of creating the euphemistically called return hubs or return centers in third countries. With the support of the conservative forces and those on the far right of the chamber, the European Parliament further toughened the original proposal to include among those deportable, for a period of time that no one needs, families with minors. Shortly afterwards, 19 Member States, led by Denmark, Italy, the Netherlands and Austria, asked the European Commission in a letter to financially support these controversial centres, which they call “innovative solutions”. The European Executive has been present “at a technical level” at the Copenhagen meeting.
The Ceuta crisis has further strengthened the position of the toughest countries now meeting in the Danish capital, and which already held a discussion by videoconference after the wave of irregular migrants that flooded the autonomous Spanish city at the end of July. “The events of recent days highlight the need and importance of this group,” Austrian Interior Minister Gerhard Kartner said at the time. “Our common goal is to reduce illegal immigration to zero,” he said now from the Danish capital.
With the returns regulation “we established the legal basis for new and innovative solutions,” said the Commissioner for Migration, also Austrian Magnus Brunner, in a comment sent to journalists within the framework of the new Danish meeting, in which the European Executive has been present at a “technical level”, according to Brussels. "Repatriation only works if we act coherently. The fact that Member States are closely coordinating and breaking new ground together is an important signal," Brunner added.
The Danish Bodskov has rejected criticism from human rights organizations and international institutions such as the Council of Europe, whose commissioner for human rights, Michael O'Flaherty, has warned that Europe risks "creating a human rights black hole" with deportation centers.
"The press talks about camps or prisons, that's not it. This is an agreement with an associated country that gives a new opportunity in that country to those who do not have the right to stay in Europe," he stated, underlining that organizations such as UNHCR will be monitoring the centers "from day one." “We need future solutions”, but “we want to do it in accordance with EU values”, insisted the Minister of Asylum and Migration of the Netherlands, Bart van den Brink, according to which the agreement now reached will allow “deepening” technical discussions with the candidate countries and sending missions to guarantee an adequate “legal framework”.
