Denmark expects to be ready by the end of 2027 to transfer migrants without residence permits to a return hub outside the European Union.
Danish Migration Minister Morten Bødskov is meeting on Friday in Copenhagen with his ministerial counterparts from Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Greece. The informal coalition, known as the Group of Five, aims to finalize concrete measures for the first EU joint agreement with a non-EU partner nation.
According to news agency Reuters, five European Union nations are preparing to finalize operational plans for offshore return facilities. Return hubs are offshore processing centres situated outside EU territory designed to house individuals whose asylum claims have been formally rejected while awaiting deportation.
Progress on offshore processing
Bødskov said officials had made substantial progress toward establishing a return centre outside the European Union and were now closer than ever to securing an agreement. He added that Denmark expected to be ready to send the first foreign nationals to a partner country by the end of next year.
However, the Danish minister did not specify which non-EU host nations the five partner governments were discussing cooperation with. Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, has previously advocated for stricter migration controls across Northern and Southern European states.
Policy overhaul and human rights concerns
The European Parliament, the directly elected legislative institution of the European Union, approved a major overhaul of migration policy in June. The revised framework aims to accelerate deportation procedures and grant member states the legal authority to construct detention centres in third countries. Critics of the legislation warned that offshore arrangements could erode basic legal safeguards for asylum seekers.
Concerns over third-country transfers have also been raised by international oversight bodies. The Council of Europe, a Strasbourg-based human rights organisation separate from the EU, stated in July that return hubs and offshore transfer arrangements pose significant risks to human rights, including potential ill-treatment and arbitrary detention.
