Five EU nations inch towards deal on migrant ‘return hubs’ by 2027

Published On 4 Sep 20264 Sep 2026.

Key points

• Danish Refugee Council Secretary-General Charlotte Slente remarked a better policy would be to implement the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum.
• The Group of Five is due to reconvene in Munich, Germany, at the end of September to advance the plan.
• According to German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, the group wants "to reach an agreement with ‌third countries this year that will enable the establishment of return hubs".
• A spokesperson for UNHCR remarked the agency had not been approached with ‌details ‌of the proposal and therefore could not comment.
• The nations projected to host return centres have not been named.

Five European nations have agreed on concrete steps towards a accord with an unspecified non-European Union country to host migrant return facilities, senior office-holders noted, in a sign of mounting determination to counter immigration.

Germany, Austria, ⁠Greece, Denmark and the Netherlands, known as the Group of Five, aim to sign deals this year to send migrants without legal residency to countries outside the European Union. The nations projected to host return centres have not been named.

"Around New Year, we expect to have a common understanding with a partner country outside of the European Union, " Danish Immigration and Integration Minister Morten Bodskov remarked to journalists on Friday at a news conference in Copenhagen, without elaborating.

"It's a new chance to have a life in a partner country, " he remarked, adding ‌that the five nations would be in dialogue with the International Organization for Migration and the United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) on their next steps.

Notably, a spokesperson for UNHCR remarked the agency had not been approached with ‌details ‌of the proposal and therefore could not comment.

For context, the Group of Five is due to reconvene in Munich, Germany, at the end of September to advance the plan.

For context, the European Parliament in June approved an overhaul of migration policy aimed at speeding up deportations and allowing member states to set up centres abroad, in what some critics of the policy say could weaken safeguards for asylum seekers.

For context, the Council of ⁠Europe, a non-EU body that promotes human rights, democracy and the rule of ⁠law, remarked in July that the proposed return hubs posed "considerable human rights risks".

Danish Refugee Council Secretary-General Charlotte Slente remarked a better policy would be to implement the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum. It focuses ⁠on stricter border screening, faster return procedures and expanded digital systems for managing asylum claims.

"Return hubs focus on a small number of returns; they ⁠will not stop people from taking even more dangerous routes, and ⁠they could violate basic human rights, " she remarked.

For now, five EU nations inch towards deal on migrant 'return hubs' by 2027 remains the part of the story worth watching, and further updates are likely as more details are confirmed.