Five European Nations Seek Deals to Send Migrants Out of the EU

Five European nations aim to sign deals this year to send migrants without legal residency to countries outside the European Union, they said at a meeting hosted by Denmark on Friday.

Germany, Austria, Greece, Denmark and the Netherlands said they had ​agreed on concrete steps towards a deal with a non-European Union country on return facilities, the ​latest effort by European nations to reduce immigration.

The countries, known as the Group of ⁠Five, did not name the nations they expect to host return centres.

“We want to reach an agreement with ​third countries this year that will enable the establishment of return hubs,” German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt told ​reporters at a press conference in Copenhagen.

The group, which has held a series of meetings this year, plans to reconvene in Munich, Germany, at the end of September.

The European Parliament in June approved an overhaul of migration policy aimed at speeding up deportations ​and allowing member states to set up centres abroad, in what critics say could weaken safeguards for asylum seekers.

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