The European Union could start setting up its first deportation centers for migrants in countries outside the union by 2027, Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said in an interview with the Financial Times, signaling a significant shift in European migration policy. Frederiksen, who has been a proponent of the idea of so-called “return centers” for years, said work is underway to secure funding from the European Commission to set up these structures in countries outside the EU. “You will see a group of countries, a coalition, ready to do this, with the support of the European Commission. I believe that in 2026-2027 we will see the first return center outside Europe. I think this can be done within the next year,” she said.
The Danish prime minister’s statements come just days after 19 EU member states expressed their support for migration policies based on centers outside the union’s territory, inspired by the model set up by Italy in Albania in 2024. An advisor to the European Court of Justice has also recently assessed that the Albanian scheme could be in line with European law if people sheltered in these centers are guaranteed the standards and rights provided for by the EU. The court’s final decision is expected in the coming months. A European Commission spokesman said on Monday that the legal framework for setting up these centers already exists and that the next step is up to member states, while Brussels is ready to examine any concrete proposal.
However, the idea continues to divide European Union countries. French President Emmanuel Macron has said he has not seen such a model work to date and has spoken out against using EU funds to finance deportation centers outside the union. “I am not sure that these are the principles on which our Europe is built,” Macron said.
The Danish Prime Minister has strongly defended the initiative, arguing that managing irregular migration is an issue that particularly affects the most vulnerable sections of society. According to her, the return centers should operate in accordance with international law and European human rights standards. “They will be outside Europe, but they will operate under European conditions. Nobody wants to undertake something that is not sustainable. We want to do this in the right way and treat people the way we treat them in Europe,” Frederiksen declared. She added that the aim is for these centers to treat both people who have been refused asylum and who need to leave the EU, as well as a portion of new asylum applicants, although the final model has not yet been determined.
According to the Financial Times, support for deportation centers outside the EU has grown significantly in recent years, while the rise of far-right parties has prompted many European governments to toughen migration policies. Frederiksen called this a historic shift in the European Union’s approach. “We have moved from discussing how to control our borders to the concrete question of where to solve the problem of mass migration: inside Europe or outside it. For the first time, our view is that this should happen outside Europe. This is the biggest shift in this whole debate,” she said.