Pakistan in focus over EU migration

Bloc says work on migrant return hubs 'progressing well'

BRUSSELS:

Work to set up migrant return hubs outside the European Union is progressing "very well", Denmark said Thursday as the bloc's home affairs ministers met in Luxembourg to discuss further ways to boost deportations.

Denmark -- along with Austria, Greece, Germany and the Netherlands -- has been exploring options to set up such migrant centres.

"When it comes to return hubs it's progressing very well," Danish interior minister Morten Bodskov told reporters, arriving at the EU meeting after holding talks with colleagues from the other four nations working on the issue.

"We are moving in the right direction," he said without providing further details.

Germany's Alexander Dobrindt said there were "preliminary" talks but declined to say which countries were involved. More work was needed to make sure any agreement would withstand possible lawsuits, he said.

"These agreements are meant to be sustainable in the long term," he said, adding that he was nevertheless hopeful that a first deal could be sealed by the end of the year.

The Luxembourg talks come with anti-immigration parties riding high across the bloc, as evidenced by far-right gains in Germany last month.

EU ministers gave final approval to tougher new migration rules allowing for the creation of return hubs and granting authorities much broader detention powers.

The regulation is to enter into force in the coming weeks, the EU said.

The meeting agenda included discussion on using "enhanced cooperation" with "priority" non-EU countries for returns of people with no right to stay in the bloc.