{"text":[[{"start":8.15,"text":"EU countries are paving the way for funding controversial deportation centres beyond the bloc’s borders with EU money, in the latest sign of Europe’s tougher stance on migration."}],[{"start":18.8,"text":"It would mark a further step towards outsourcing migration control, despite warnings from critics that such arrangements would weaken legal and human rights safeguards."}],[{"start":29.05,"text":"EU governments’ position on the bloc’s next budget, which will run from 2028 to 2034, says “innovative solutions” for managing migration could be financed through the EU’s foreign aid and external spending instrument. The position paper is due to be adopted by EU affairs ministers on Tuesday. "}],[{"start":47.650000000000006,"text":"“Innovative solutions” has become Brussels shorthand for controversial plans, including so-called return hubs — de facto detention centres — in non-EU countries where rejected asylum seekers who cannot be deported to their home countries would be sent."}],[{"start":62.10000000000001,"text":"The “external dimension” to migration policy, including return hubs, could receive up to €20bn over seven years — about 10 per cent of the bloc’s external action budget — people familiar with the discussions said."}],[{"start":75.60000000000001,"text":"“It creates an opening to provide EU funding . . . if and when return hubs come into being,” said one EU diplomat."}],[{"start":83.60000000000001,"text":"The figures could still change during the budget negotiations. But the inclusion of return hubs in EU budget legislation marks a shift from the European Commission’s previous refusal to fund physical infrastructure aimed at preventing irregular migration. In 2021, as Poland and the Baltic states pressed Brussels to fund border barriers to prevent people crossing from Belarus, Commission president Ursula von der Leyen insisted there would be “no funding of barbed wire and walls”."}],[{"start":113.10000000000001,"text":"In recent years, however, the EU has signed controversial agreements with Turkey, Tunisia and other countries to curb immigration, which have also included funding for physical infrastructure such as border posts. "}],[{"start":125.75000000000001,"text":"The push to fund return hubs is being led by Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Sweden and Austria, and is backed by a majority of member states. It comes despite a mixed record in establishing such centres, including Italy’s contested scheme in Albania and inconclusive Dutch talks with Uganda."}],[{"start":146.45000000000002,"text":"The Netherlands, Germany, Austria, Denmark and Greece are currently in talks with potential host nations and hope to reach agreements by the end of the year. Officials are keeping potential locations closely guarded to avoid a repeat of the political fallout that accompanied the UK’s Rwanda plan."}],[{"start":164.60000000000002,"text":"Last month Austria signed an agreement with Uzbekistan that included the “transit of persons to be deported to their home country”. African countries are also in discussion, though officials have declined to offer further details."}],[{"start":178.50000000000003,"text":"The return-hub concept has gained traction as governments struggle to increase deportations of rejected asylum seekers, often because their home countries refuse to take them back. "}],[{"start":189.85000000000002,"text":"Earlier this month, the European parliament and member states agreed harsher measures that will facilitate deportations and create the legal framework for return hubs."}],[{"start":206.8,"text":""}]],"url":"https://audio.ftcn.net.cn/album/a_1781591079_5162.mp3"}