EU Agrees on New Returns Regulation as Part of Migration Pact, Enabling Offshore Detention and Third-Country Removals

EU member states, the European Parliament and the European Commission reached an agreement on Monday, June 1, to adopt a new regulation on returns that further tightens European migration policy. The regulation adds to the asylum and migration pact, which already consists of roughly 10 pieces of legislation that member states must implement by June 12, exactly two years after it was adopted.

The new rules make it easier for member states to expel undocumented migrants, even if it means relocating them to countries they are not from.

States will be able to develop return platforms in countries outside Europe to bypass the refusal of certain countries of origin to take back their nationals. The agreement also authorizes the creation of detention centers abroad where migrants can be sent, in addition to tougher sanctions against those denied asylum.

Malik Azmani, the liberal Renew MEP responsible for the legislation, said it was about time Europe set up a system that is both credible and practically enforceable.

He added that the objective was clear: to establish an effective, fair and enforceable return system, while ensuring that the legislation is legally sound. Magnus Brunner, the European commissioner for migration, said with the new rules the EU has more control over who can come to the EU, who can stay, and who needs to leave.

Brunner regretted that only 28% of expulsion orders in Europe are actually carried out.

The various regulations within the pact provide for registering, screening, and either granting or denying protection to asylum seekers. The new regulation on returns was widely seen as the missing link in this stricter migration framework. A camp near the Stalingrad metro station in Paris was dismantled on November 5, 2025.