Refugees and migration: Is Europe closing its doors?
Key takeaways
- Migration researchers have called on European governments to abandon isolationist policies.
- She was especially critical of the plan to concentrate refugees found to have no prospect of asylum in "return hubs," repatriation centers located in third countries outside of the European Union (EU).
- To set up such centers, however, the EU would be dependent on "cooperation partners," which it hopes to find in Africa.
Why this matters: an international story with cross-border implications worth tracking.
Migration researchers have called on European governments to abandon isolationist policies. But many politicians are not heeding their calls.
https://p.dw.com/p/5Eg9CThe new Common European Asylum System (CEAS) will take effect on June 12Image: Design It/Zoonar/picture alliance Advertisement The "Global Refugee Crisis 2026" report, published Monday in Berlin, is intended to be a wake-up call, according to its co-editor Petra Bendel from the University of Erlangen-Nuremberg (Bavaria). At its presentation, she expressed concern about the impact of the Common European Asylum System (CEAS), a legal framework adopted in 2024 that will become legally binding across all EU member states on June 12: "We fear a further expansion of detention-like accommodation for asylum seekers at the external borders," Bendel said.
She was especially critical of the plan to concentrate refugees found to have no prospect of asylum in "return hubs," repatriation centers located in third countries outside of the European Union (EU). These are a central feature of tougher migration policy, that Germany's Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt of the conservative Christian Social Union (CSU) party has described as "innovative."