French President Emmanuel Macron has shot down the idea of backing a collective European project to establish illegal-migrant return hubs outside the bloc, after the EU Parliament paved the way earlier this week.
Claiming that it is contrary to the supposed values of “Europe”, President Macron said that France will not agree to fund any EU migrant return hubs, nor will Paris seek to partner on an individual basis with a third-party country, as it will be allowed to under the new returns regulations passed on Wednesday in Strasbourg.
Rather than allowing illegals to remain in EU nations while they await deportation, the impending rules will allow European countries to send migrants to holding centres abroad while they seek to return them to their homeland.
The model was initially floated by the former Conservative government in the United Kingdom, which struck an agreement to send illegal boat migrants to Rwanda. However, the programme never got off the ground as it was legally challenged at home by open borders activist attorneys and at the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR). It was ultimately scrapped by Sir Keir Starmer’s Labour Party on their first day in power in 2024.
A similar scheme was set up by Prime Minsiter Giorgia Meloni’s government in Rome, which partnered with Albania to establish return centres for those who illegally cross the Mediterranean from Africa. Yet this, too, was stymied by judicial activism in Italy and at the European Court of Justice. The passage of new regulations by the European Parliament this week will likely pave the way for the Albania scheme to be revived and potentially expanded, with nearly 20 EU nations expressing interest in such a programme and potentially funding a joint project.
However, it does not appear that France will join such a scheme, at least for the final year of President Macron’s term in office. On the sidelines of a meeting of the European Council in Brussels on Friday, the French leader said of third-party migrant return hubs: “France does not support this policy.”
“I have never seen a return centre in a third country actually work. In recent years, I have heard many people talk about doing this or signing agreements. I urge you to consider what this entails. It means that people who don’t want to return to their country of origin, or whom you are unable to return to their country of origin, will be sent to a third country, and that country will accept them, perhaps in exchange for money,” he said.
“So what kind of country are you building, what kind of relationships are you creating, what kind of human rights are you upholding, and you are pushing all these people into a country that is not their own, even though you don’t want to keep them at home? I’m not sure that this is what our Europe is about,” Macron declared. “I’m not sure that these are the fundamental principles on which our Europe was built.”
“Furthermore, I don’t believe it is effective. The proof is that I have yet to see anyone make it work. I even believe that the countries that had signed preliminary agreements with various members of the European Union or elsewhere have not implemented them. Therefore, we will not implement them, and while I have great respect for all those who wish to do so, I disagree, both pragmatically and in principle,” he said, despite his government’s dismal deportation rate.
The French president said that he would “oppose the use of the European budget” to fund any migrant return centres, claiming that it would make the EU look bad to allies in Africa if they were seen as caring more about illegal migration to Europe rather than combating human trafficking in Africa.
“From my perspective, this should be a matter for each state’s policies; I respect them, but they are not the ones we will implement, and they are not the ones that the budget we will adopt will implement,” he vowed.
However, it remains to be seen if this will be the position of Paris, given the upcoming election in 2027 to decide who will succeed President Macron in the Élysée Palace.
Indeed, potential presidential candidate Marine Le Pen said of Macron’s stance: “After having been the candidate of mass immigration, Emmanuel Macron has since 2017 been the president of organized submersion that has completely destabilized our country.
“For the waning Macronists, as for the left and the far left, mass immigration is a project. For the vast majority of the French, it is a problem and we will resolve it in 2027.”