European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has weighed in on the EU’s hardening migration policy today by pushing for “return hubs” to be adopted by member states. She praised Italy’s recently activated return deal with Albania as a model to replicate and wrote in a letter ahead of a meeting of EU interior ministers this week:

“We should continue to explore possible ways forward as regards the idea of developing return hubs outside the EU, especially in view of a new legislative proposal on return.”

Under current proposals return hubs would house migrants served with deportation orders. Germany’s migration commissioner said last month that the bloc should explore third-country processing. The EU is reversing its previous reticence in order to follow the UK’s example – until Starmer scrapped it…