Europe has been discussing the creation of deportation centres in third countries for years, with Germany among those pushing the idea. Denmark has now set out a possible timeline, while German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt is still calling for agreements with third countries to be reached before the end of this year.
Denmark expects to begin transferring migrants to deportation centres outside the European Union as early as next year.
“We expect that during the course of 2027, we will be ready to transfer the first irregular migrants to a partner country outside the European Union,” Danish Migration and Integration Minister Morten Bødskov said after a meeting of a working group involving Germany and several other EU countries.
German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt, meanwhile, continues to push for agreements with third countries to be concluded before the end of 2026.
Dobrindt calls meeting “extremely important”
The planned centres, also known as “Return Hubs”, would accommodate people who are legally required to leave the EU but cannot be returned to their countries of origin — for example, because their home countries refuse to take them back.
Germany has been working on the initiative for some time with Austria, Denmark, Greece and the Netherlands.
Dobrindt described the meeting in Copenhagen as “extremely important” and said the next meeting of the working group would take place in Munich at the end of September.
“We want to reach an agreement with third countries this year that will then make it possible to establish Return Hubs,” he said.
The deadline is not new, however, and Germany has previously set the same target.
According to Bødskov, the participating countries had agreed on a set of principles for the next stages of the project and its implementation.
The centres, he said, would have to be “a common European project” operating in line with EU law and international obligations.
He also stressed that any Return Hub model would need to significantly reduce the number of people entering the EU illegally.
The countries currently being considered as potential hosts for the centres were not disclosed.
EU Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner also attended the meeting.
Although the EU has given political backing to the initiative, the bloc as a whole has not agreed to establish such centres. The plan remains legally contentious.
Highly controversial proposal
The idea of creating Return Hubs has been debated in Europe for years and remains deeply controversial.
Human rights organisations such as Amnesty International have warned of potential violations in the centres and raised concerns about agreements with countries affected by conflict or political instability.
Marcel Emmerich, the domestic policy spokesman for Germany’s Green parliamentary group, criticised the meeting in Denmark, calling the proposal a “shifting game that solves no problem”.
“Dobrindt is confusing toughness with effectiveness and is using today’s meeting to distract from his own responsibility,” Emmerich said.
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