Switzerland will be required to adopt legislation allowing the use of migrant-return centres outside Europe, following a new agreement reached by the European Union. Despite being outside the EU, as a member of the Schengen area, Switzerland must incorporate the new rules into domestic law.
The agreement, struck in Brussels on Monday evening, forms part of a broader effort to tighten the EU’s migration regime and speed up deportations. It allows member states that wish to do so to establish centres in third countries where rejected asylum-seekers can be sent pending removal or transfer.
The compromise still requires final approval by both the European Parliament and member states in the coming weeks.
Several European countries, including Denmark, Austria and Germany, are already considering possible host countries for such centres, with Rwanda, Uganda and Uzbekistan among the locations discussed publicly.
The concept is not entirely new. Italy’s government under Giorgia Meloni attempted a similar arrangement in Albania, where asylum-seekers were to be processed before their claims were examined. But the Albanian facility remained largely unused because of repeated legal challenges. Under the EU’s new framework, the centres would be used only after asylum claims have been rejected.
The legislation also introduces tougher measures against migrants who refuse to leave the EU. These include the confiscation of identity documents and the extension of detention periods to as long as 24 months. Entry bans for those forcibly removed would increase from five years to ten, and in some cases to 20 years.
At present only around 20% of deportation orders issued by EU countries are ultimately enforced, a figure frequently cited by advocates of stricter immigration controls. Magnus Brunner, the European commissioner responsible for migration, said the new rules would give the EU better control to ensure returns are carried out.
The measures represent a further hardening of the EU’s migration policy only two years after the bloc adopted its asylum and migration pact, which is only now entering into force. That pact introduced tougher border screening procedures and a burden-sharing mechanism among member states.
The latest legislation reflects the growing influence of conservative and far-right parties in the European Parliament.
Because the agreement forms part of the Schengen rules, Switzerland will be required to incorporate it into national law within two years, according to the State Secretariat for Migration (SEM). The legislation will need parliamentary approval and could also be subject to an optional referendum.
For now, however, the return centres themselves remain largely hypothetical. Before rejected asylum-seekers can be transferred, European governments must first secure agreements with third countries willing to host such facilities and able to meet international human-rights standards.
According to the European Council, the centres could serve either as final destinations or as transit hubs before migrants are returned to their countries of origin or another third country. Families could also be transferred there. The only automatic exemption foreseen in the legislation concerns unaccompanied minors.
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