After a decade of failing to effectively tackle migration, the EU can ultimately regain control over migration to the bloc, at least, this is what many in Europe are hoping for. The question is whether this hope becomes reality or whether it remains just another promising European dream that never comes true.
As part of comprehensive migration and asylum reforms which start applying on June 12 under the EU’s new Asylum And Migration Pact – a set of new rules managing migration and establishing a common asylum system at EU level, approved in 2024 , negotiators in the European Parliament agreed new rules with Member States to speed up and increase returns from the bloc.
According to the European Commission, only around 28 percent of migrants ordered to leave the EU are currently returned to their home countries. The new rules aim to improve this rate. Irregular border crossings into the EU decreased by 40 percent in the first four months of 2026 compared to the same period in 2025, according to the EU’s border control agency Frontex.
Under the deal, EU countries will be allowed to send people who have been ordered to leave EU territory to so-called return hubs outside the bloc despite human rights organisations warn it can open the door to more abuse and human rights violations.
According to the rules, migrants do not need to have any connection to the country where the return hub is located. The only requirement is that an agreement exists between an EU country and that third country and this would be enough to make return hubs legal. These centers could serve as temporary transfer points before deportation or as longer-term places of stay for people being returned.
While the abovementioned stricter position on returns was supported by the EPP, the right-wing European Conservatives and Reformists, the far-right Patriots for Europe and Europe of Sovereign Nations groups, and opposed by the liberal and left-wing groups, Marta Welander, EU advocacy director of the International Refugee Committee, said the plans mark an ’alarming new chapter in the EU’s approach to asylum and migration.’ She also warned that the agreement will give governments much broader powers to detain and deport people. She said it looks set to normalize immigration raids, expand the use of detention in prison-like facilities outside EU territory that are essentially legal black holes, and increase the risk of people being deported to countries where they could face persecution, torture, or worse. The aid organization Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants (PICUM) warned of increased surveillance and discrimination in countries where migrants have never been.
To properly understand this decision supported by a number of political groups and EU capitals, it is worth digging a bit deeper to see why some countries decided to enter this particular path in tackling migration.
The EU’s political leadership has found itself in an uneasy situation in recent years as it needs to adress a specific challenge: as migration has become a key issue, a kind of game-changer both in national and European elections, the centre-right needs to find a proper framework and proper tools to keep control and not to give more space to far-right groups when it comes to migration.
A clear need for a change in migration-related issues can be felt in many EU countries, including Germany, France, Italy, Belgium, Spain and Austria. As European far-right activists and influencers from a number of countries gathered in Portugal 31 May at the Remigration Summit 2026 to discuss the concept of ’remigration’, originally developed by German AfD, they left no doubt that this new generation would be ready to abandon Europe’s old-school complexes in order to get rid of migrants. Austrian far-right activist Martin Sellner, a co-organizer of the summit called on Europeans to ’overcome their guilt complex and self-loathing stemming from post-war consensus.’
One thing is for sure: banning the far right and keeping political parties behind a ’cordon sanitaire’ cannot and should not be a European choice. This issue is particularly timely when the far-right Europe of Sovereign Nations party – home to Germany’s AfD – risks losing EU funding and even its status as a political party after the EU’s political party watchdog, the APPF (The Authority for European Political Parties and European Political Foundations) has launched formal proceedings against it.
Given the consensus over the four pillars of the new migration and asylum policy such as secure external borders, fast and efficient procedures, effective system of solidarity and responsibility and embedding migration in international partnerships, an all-European consensus between political groups on broader migration can easily be reached as all forces are interested in a stronger and more secure Europe.
With the adoption of a five-year strategy on migration in January, EU migration policy was given a new momentum which can be considered an important milestone towards a broader consensus. The new Strategy sets out concrete priorities for the next five years such as stepping up migration diplomacy, strong EU borders, a firm and fair migration and asylum system and a more effective return and readmission. The newly adopted Strategy also sets out the way forward to achieve some main objectives such as preventing illegal migration and breaking the business of criminal smuggling networks and protecting people fleeing war and persecution, while preventing abuse of the asylum system. Although the objectives are fully acceptable for the majority of the member states, the effectiveness of the Strategy remains uncertain, at least until 2031.
As for the return hubs, despite some EU countries, including France and Spain, have questioned their effectiveness, several other countries are moving forward with concrete plans, including Austria, Denmark, the Netherlands, Greece, and Germany, moreover, Italy has already established facilities in Albania. Potential partner countries include Rwanda, Libya, Mauritania, Uzbekistan, and Ethiopia.
Given that EU member states hold polarized positions not only on return hubs but also on the Pact on Migration and Asylum itself, it is unclear how the new system will work. While destination countries (Germany, Austria, Netherlands) and border states demand stricter containment, fronline and entry states (Greece, Italy, Spain) criticize the burden, and CEE countries (Slovakia, Czechia, Poland, Hungary) resist relocation quotas. Some EU countries, both western and eastern ones, are seeking exemptions or total opt-outs from the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum. The almost only common thing how member states view migration is the need for strengthening external borders. However, as the newly introduced stricter rules on migration are in alignment with the EU’s strategic interests, they still provide a new hope for us that, this time, Europe can act as united and will be able to regain control over migratory processes
