EU approves deportation hubs with zero hosts

No third country has agreed to host a deportation centre for the EU. That is the central obstacle facing the new Return Regulation, which the European Parliament approved on 17 June, giving member states a legal basis for the first time to run removal facilities outside EU territory (European Parliament, DW).

Nineteen EU leaders signed a letter urging the European Commission to back the centres quickly, including with EU funding (Statsministeriet). Austria, Denmark, Greece and the Netherlands are reportedly exploring locations. The EU Council (where national governments co-legislate) must still give formal sign-off. But the country that would actually accept detainees on its soil holds the real leverage, and nobody has said yes.

Why Most Deportation Orders Go Nowhere

Supporters point to a real failure. Only around 28% of EU return decisions result in someone actually leaving, according to the regulation's parliamentary rapporteur Malik Azmani (EP interview). The new rules create a European Return Order valid across member states and allow transfers to detention outside EU borders.

The reasons most deportations fail, though, have little to do with where someone is held. Countries of origin refuse to issue travel documents. Consulates stall. Courts intervene. A College of Europe analysis identified the core obstacle: getting origin countries to cooperate and accept returnees (College of Europe). Parliament can authorise the tool. It cannot force a third country to accept a centre, or a country of origin to take people back.

Italy Tried. Five People Were Returned.

Italy is the only government that has tested anything close to this model. Two facilities in Albania — one for identification at Shëngjin, one for detention at Gjadër — operate under Italian law. After courts rejected the first detentions in late 2024, Rome pivoted from offshore asylum processing toward holding people already ordered to leave (EFE).

The results are minimal. Internazionale, citing documents obtained by Altreconomia, reported five migrants returned directly from Albania to Egypt. Others transferred to Albania ended up back in Italy. The same investigation counted 54 incidents requiring emergency response in Gjadër's opening days (Internazionale).

The legal challenge is separate and unresolved. According to an ECRE/ELENA update, the Albanian model faces review at the EU's Court of Justice in joined cases C-706/25 and C-707/25, testing whether the facilities comply with EU asylum law (ECRE/ELENA). Giorgia Meloni claims the Parliament vote validates her approach (La Nación). The courts have not ruled.

The Funding Fight and the Rights Question

Greek PM Kyriakos Mitsotakis set the most concrete timeline: agreements by end of 2026, centres running from 2027 (Le Monde). Germany, despite joining a working group on hub locations, did not sign the 19-leader letter (EUobserver).

France and Spain cannot block the regulation under qualified majority voting (where a supermajority of countries and population is needed, so no single state holds a veto). But Emmanuel Macron said France would oppose EU budget financing for the centres, and Pedro Sánchez called them ineffective and damaging to relationships with transit countries Europe relies on (Euronews, El País). They cannot kill the law. They can make it harder to fund and defend.

The regulation also removes one safeguard: appeals against deportation would no longer automatically stop removal, with judges deciding case by case (European Parliament, Politis). The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights warned that governments cannot outsource responsibility when someone is detained unlawfully or denied an effective appeal (European Times). Amnesty raised the risk of holding people in countries where they have no ties and no access to lawyers (Amnesty).

Parliament has approved the framework. The Council must still sign off. A host country must still agree. Courts in Luxembourg and Strasbourg must still decide whether EU rights protections follow people outside EU borders. The political momentum is real. The practical answers are missing.