By Charlotte Van Campenhout and Inti Landauro
BRUSSELS, June 19 (Reuters) – French President Emmanuel Macron said on Friday that his country does not support the creation of so-called “return hubs” for migrants in third countries, questioning their efficacy, though adding that he respected countries that want to set up such hubs.
“We are in favour of a more effective return policy, but … I have never seen a return centre in a third country that actually works,” Macron said, speaking in Brussels as a two-day EU summit concluded.
The European Parliament earlier this week approved a migration overhaul to speed up deportations and allow offshore detention centres, a move critics say is harsh and weakens asylum safeguards.
Macron questioned whether the hubs align with European values.
“I’m not sure that’s what our Europe is about. I’m not sure that these are the fundamental principles on which our Europe was built, and I don’t believe it’s effective either,” he said.
Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez, speaking at a press briefing on Friday after the EU summit, said Spain was also against such hubs but was in the minority on the issue in Europe.
He said the return hubs are “simply going to waste economic resources, and Europe doesn’t have many of those”.
(Reporting by Inti Landauro and Charlotte Van Campenhout, additional reporting by Andrey Khalip; Editing by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Hugh Lawson)
