EU home affairs ministers have given final approval to new legislation designed to increase the deportation of migrants. The council of ministers adopted the law on Thursday in Luxembourg, weeks after mass border crossings into the Spanish exclave of Ceuta in late July renewed pressure for tougher measures across the bloc.

The adopted legislation creates the legal basis for setting up contested deportation centres outside the EU. These centres would hold migrants who are legally required to leave the bloc but cannot be returned to their countries of origin. The law also introduces new obligations and possible penalties for rejected asylum seekers. In addition, it extends the possibility to detain persons considered a national security risk while their deportation is pending.

Who is affected

Three groups face direct changes. First, migrants under a return obligation who cannot be sent back to their country of origin may now be transferred to centres located outside EU territory. Second, rejected asylum seekers face new obligations and possible penalties under the expanded rules. Third, individuals flagged as national security risks can be detained for the duration of deportation proceedings, an extension of existing detention powers.

Ministers debate further restrictions

The same meeting addressed the aftermath of the July border incident. Around 72,000 migrants arrived in Ceuta within a few days at the end of July, triggering a diplomatic crisis and a blame game between EU member states.

In September, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced a new European crisis-response framework. It would allow temporary deviations from asylum rules when migration movements are deliberately orchestrated and used against the EU. Details of the proposal have not yet been presented, but several ministers used the Luxembourg meeting to call for additional restrictions.

German Interior Minister Alexander Dobrindt backed the idea of special asylum rules for crises. He argued there could be situations in which standard asylum procedures were not necessary — for example, when people cross EU borders with the help of smugglers or as a result of disinformation campaigns. A crisis intervention mechanism would then ensure that "normal asylum procedures" did not take place. The EU had to be able to defend itself against abuse, Dobrindt said.

Greek Migration Minister Athanasios Plevris went further and called for additional measures that go beyond the EU's existing migration and asylum rules and the newly adopted deportation regulation.

A more cautious voice

French Delegated Minister Marie-Pierre Vedrenne took a more hesitant line. She stressed the need to fully apply the already agreed reform of the EU's asylum and migration rules rather than add new instruments.

The reformed European Pact on Asylum and Migration, in force since June, already provides for a crisis mechanism in cases of mass arrivals when migrants have been instrumentalized. That mechanism allows asylum applications to be processed more quickly and lets the affected member state request support from other EU countries.

"It is absolutely crucial to recognize that it is indeed the full, efficient and effective implementation of the Pact that will enable us to respond to such situations," Vedrenne said.

What comes next

The deportation legislation now stands adopted at ministerial level, while the Commission's crisis-response framework remains a proposal without published details. Further ministerial discussions are expected as member states push diverging positions on whether the existing Pact is sufficient or whether new emergency rules are needed.

Migrants and asylum applicants affected by return decisions should monitor announcements from the European Commission and national immigration authorities for implementation measures, deadlines and procedural changes that will follow from the new law.