Five European nations plan to lock in agreements before the year closes that would send undocumented migrants to return centers in non-EU countries. Germany, Austria, Greece, Denmark, and the Netherlands call themselves the Group of Five and have now mapped out concrete steps toward offshore processing hubs.
Interior ministers from the coalition met Friday in Copenhagen, where they pushed for a deal with third countries before January. German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt said the target remains clear: secure an accord this year that paves the way for return centers outside the bloc. The group, which has already convened multiple times in recent months, expects to reconvene in Munich by late September to further shape the proposal.
Danish Immigration Minister Morten Bodskov said his government anticipates operational readiness for sending migrants to such a hub by the end of 2027. The five countries will also consult the UN International Organization for Migration and the UN refugee agency on what comes next.
Charlotte Slente, secretary general of the Danish Refugee Council, pushed back on the scheme. She argued that implementing the existing EU Pact on Migration and Asylum would deliver better outcomes. That framework tightens border screening, speeds up deportations and asylum decisions, and builds out digital systems for application management. Slente cautioned that return centers would affect only a limited caseload, fail to deter people from pursuing more perilous routes, and potentially violate core human rights protections.
The broader migration overhaul gained momentum last June, when the European Parliament passed a sweeping reform designed to accelerate removals and allow member states to establish offshore centers. Critics warned the move weakens legal safeguards for asylum seekers.
The Council of Europe, a separate human rights watchdog covering the continent, followed with its own warning in July. It flagged significant rights risks tied to return hubs.
Meanwhile, the European Commission has complained that it received no formal details about the proposal and therefore cannot evaluate the arrangements under discussion. That gap leaves the legality and feasibility of the Group of Five plan unresolved even as member states press forward on their own timeline.
