Plevris to Politico: “return hubs” pilot within the first half of 2027, first deal with Rwanda

Greece is leading the group of five European Union states pushing to send migrants whose asylum has been rejected to designated countries outside the EU starting next year — as Politico Europe reports in today’s interview with Greek migration minister Thanos Plevris.

According to Plevris’s statement to Politico, the group — Denmark, Austria, Greece, Germany and the Netherlands — aims to have a pilot project ready within the first half of 2027 and to be fully operational in the second half of the year. The deadline coincides with Greece taking over the rotating EU Council presidency in July.

“We are not talking about centers, in the sense that someone whose asylum has been rejected is sent to a closed facility in a third country,” Plevris is quoted by Politico Europe as saying. “If your asylum is rejected, you will either return to your country of origin or to a third country outside the EU,” he explains, stressing that these are designated return countries, not closed centers.

Two EU diplomats, who spoke anonymously to Politico, say the first deal will be struck with Rwanda, while Uganda and Uzbekistan are also discussed as possible countries. The countries under consideration already have large migrant populations and camps to accommodate them, Plevris adds, while the group’s states are “open to any framework those countries want — whether camps or broader integration programs.”

The context: Rwanda has been at the center of controversial offshore migration plans — in 2022 Britain announced a multi-million deal with Kigali to deport asylum seekers for processing there, a scheme later abandoned. The interview comes as Europe still grapples with the long migration crisis, which has strengthened populist-nationalist parties across the continent.

Greece presented the “Core Group” initiative for return countries at the Munich Migration Conference in September (reported September 27); today’s interview is the first time Minister Plevris gives concrete deadlines and names specific countries.