Overview
- Justice and home affairs ministers in Brussels signed off on measures enabling overseas asylum processing centers and new return hubs outside EU borders.
- The package expands removal powers, allows longer detention for those refusing to leave, and introduces a list of safe countries to speed rejections.
- A solidarity pool would relocate at least 30,000 asylum seekers or require €20,000 per person in payments, with officials eyeing roughly €430 million for states under strain.
- Denmark drove the push during its rotating presidency, as leaders seek to answer public concern and blunt gains by far-right parties.
- France raised legal doubts, Spain questioned the effectiveness of return hubs, and rights groups warned the changes risk pushing people into danger and legal limbo.