Von der Leyen endorses return hubs as EU leaders demand faster deportations

European leaders could follow the rightward drift of the European Commission to use ‘Rwanda-style’ return hubs for asylum seekers, despite warnings from human rights groups.

Amnesty International urged European leaders to focus their efforts on humane and sustainable policies towards refugees and migrants, and to firmly reject proposals to establish ‘return hubs’ outside the EU.

“The European Commission’s shameful U-turn on return hubs and other so-called ‘innovative ways’ to counter migration is highly alarming,” said Amnesty director Eve Geddie. “For years, the Commission has failed to respond to member states that blatantly disregard EU and international law on asylum, now it seems intent on advancing its own proposals that are incompatible with human rights and international law.”

Amnesty said the ‘return hubs’ were incompatible with EU and international law, undermined the recently adopted EU Pact on Migration and Asylum and were contrary to the Commission’s own assessment in 2018 that these schemes “present significant legal and practical challenges” and “risk infringing the principle of non-refoulement” and were questionably “in line with EU values”.

The European Commission has signalled a willingness to offshore migration procedures, echoing growing calls from member states.

Ursula von der Leyen offered her strongest endorsement yet to the controversial project of establishing so-called “return hubs” outside the European Union territory to transfer asylum seekers whose applications have been rejected.

The idea was reflected in a letter the European Commission president sent to EU leaders ahead of a two-day summit in Brussels where migration is set to dominate talks.

The seven-page letter, shared with the media on Monday evening, outlines several proposals to curb the number of asylum applications, which reached 1,140,000 claims across the bloc last year, and counter irregular border crossings and human smuggling. It signals a strong shift to the right, in line with the direction of Europe’s migration debate.

Under the scheme, Italy has begun transferring certain groups of people seeking asylum to detention centres in Albania, where Giorgia Meloni’s hard-right government has built two centres to transfer male migrants rescued in high waters by Italian authorities.

Von der Leyen previously described the Italy-Albania protocol as “out-of-the-box thinking.”

In her new letter, the president says the results of this deal, harshly criticised by humanitarian organisations for undermining the asylum process and weakening judicial oversight, could determine the next steps of the EU migration policy.

“We should also continue to explore possible ways forward as regards the idea of developing return hubs outside the EU, especially in view of a new legislative proposal on return,” von der Leyen writes.

“With the start of operations of the Italy-Albania protocol, we will also be able to draw lessons from this experience in practice.”

Von der Leyen also pushes for designating “safe third countries” at the EU level to avoid disagreements between member states and speed up the rate of deportations, which continues to hover between 20% and 30% with no major change.

Last week, Malta joined a group of 17 European countries in asking the Commission for a “paradigm shift” on deportations where governments “must be empowered.”

“People without the right to stay must be held accountable. A new legal basis must clearly define their obligations and duties,” the 17 countries said. “Non-cooperation must have consequences and be sanctioned.”

In her letter, von der Leyen appears to respond directly to the document as she promises to table a law “that would define clear obligations of cooperation for the returnee, and effectively streamline the process of returns,” with a focus on digitalisation and mutual recognition of the decisions issued by member states.

The president supports two key demands from the 17-strong group. First, new rules to detain and expel those considered a threat to public order and security. Second, using visa and trade policies as leverage to convince non-EU countries to accept their citizens after their asylum applications are turned down.

Von der Leyen’s letter was signed the same day the European Commission expressed disapproval about Poland’s announced plan to introduce a “temporary territorial suspension of the right to asylum” and comes amidst a charged political atmosphere where governments show increasing boldness in their attempts to curb migration flows.

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“Suspending the right to seek asylum is flagrantly unlawful and Prime Minister Tusk knows this,” Amnesty International said. “EU member states like Poland are playing politics with the rights of refugees and migrants. From Poland to Finland, Greece and Germany, so-called emergencies are being weaponised to enact laws that gravely undermine access to asylum and the protection from refoulement.”

The plans for the suspension of asylum applications form part of Poland’s strategy on migration for 2025-2030, approved by the government on 15 October 2024.