European countries could set up EU-funded deportation centres outside the bloc by next year, Denmark’s prime minister has said, amid a broader hardening of immigration policy driven by the rise of far-right parties.
Mette Frederiksen, who has long championed the idea of “return hubs”, told the FT that work was under way to get funding from the European Commission for such facilities based in non-EU countries.
“You will see a group of countries like a coalition of the willing . . . supported by the Commission,” she said. “In 2026-27, we will see the first return hub outside [Europe] . . . I think we will be able to do it within the next year.”