Brussels has adopted a new stance on migration – reforming the system of repatriation to make it more in line with Italy’s policies under the country’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
Under the European Commission’s reworked asylum and migration plan, presented on March 11, the policies towards rejected asylum seekers will be much tougher and they will be sent to return hubs outside of the European Union.
The initiative, complementing the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, was deigned to enhance the efficiency of migrant returns while emphasising respect for fundamental rights.
While the EC did not impose the building of hubs, it stated it would create the legal framework for member states to create them. That, it said, would enable them to work with third countries open to holding migrants in detention centres in exchange for money or other forms of support.
The proposal introduced common rules across EU member states, including mutual recognition of return decisions, robust safeguards throughout the return process, clear guidelines for forced returns and incentives for voluntary returns.
“The current patchwork of 27 different national return systems, each with its own approach and procedures, undermines the effectiveness of returns at EU level, incentivises illegal arrivals and exposes illegal immigrants to precarious conditions and exploitation by criminal networks,” the text read.
Additionally, there would be stricter measures to prevent abuse and “address absconding”, reflecting a broader, tougher stance on irregular migration.
The proposal also introduced a “European return order” and stricter rules, such as extended detention periods of up to 24 months for perceived security risks and entry bans stretching to 20 years for identified high-risk individuals.
This shift aligned with growing political pressure across Europe, where low return rates — only about one in five of the nearly 500,000 non-EU citizens ordered to leave annually actually depart — have fuelled calls for stronger action.
During the presentation of the plans in the European Parliament in Strasbourg, European Commissioner for Migration Magnus Brunner underscored the “existential” nature of this issue, arguing that effective returns were critical to restore public trust in migration management.
“Our return policy is failing right now,” Vice-President Henna Virkkunen added.
With the new plans, the EC has altered earlier policies, which prioritised voluntary returns and reintegration support within a softer, rights-focused framework.
Italy and Denmark have been pushing the externalisation of the asylum process, with Italy notably creating migrant centres in Albania to process asylum claims.
These centres have, though, been stuck in a legal conundrum. Now, Rome is rumoured to want to turn these centres into return hubs, in line with Brussels’ objectives.
The European plans only aimed to handle migrants who have gone through the entire asylum process. The EC’s proposed centres would only hold individuals whose applications had been definitively rejected, excluding minors and families with children.
Amnesty International called the plans “a new low” for Europe’s treatment of migrants.
“The European Commission has caved to the unworkable, expensive and inhumane demands of a few shrill anti-human rights and anti-migration governments,” said Eve Geddie, director of Amnesty International’s European Institutions Office.
“The Commission itself discarded the concept of ‘return hubs’ in 2018. It is well aware that these proposals will lead to human rights violations, waste millions of euros and alienate allies – at a time when the EU needs friends. ”
Silvia Carta, of the Platform for International Co-operation on Undocumented Migrants, called the proposal “harmful” and said it “confirms the EU’s obsession with deportations”.
“We can likely expect more people being locked up in immigration detention centres across Europe, families separated, and people sent to countries they don’t even know,” she told news agency AFP.
For Jacob Kirkegaard of the Bruegel think-tank, the amendments reflected a “path of least resistance” chosen by EC President Ursula von der Leyen about divisive issues that were no longer a priority, given the fraught international environment.
In the European Parliament, the right-wing Patriots for Europe group said it was an improvement but did not go far enough.
“Despite these advancements, the proposal lacks a crucial element to ensure an effective return policy. Without concrete consequences for countries that refuse to take back their own nationals, effective return will remain a challenge,” said Marieke Ehlers, shadow rapporteur for the Patriots for Europe.
🗣️ | Progress is made, but without firm consequences, Europe's return policy remains incomplete. #Patriots pic.twitter.com/bBBjfvE3d7
— Patriots for Europe (@PatriotsEP) March 11, 2025
