EU plans march proposal for migrant 'return hubs' outside bloc

The European Union could submit a proposal as soon as March on the creation of so-called 'return hubs' to expedite the removal of illegal migrants, Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson said on Thursday.

Kristersson sketched out the potential timetable during a meeting in Vienna with Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer, a fellow conservative, in which both men urged the European Union to step up efforts to counter illegal immigration.

Growing support for hard and far-right parties across Europe has pushed immigration up the political agenda. EU leaders said in October they were considering a scheme under which migrants with no right to stay in the bloc could be sent to hubs in countries considered safe outside the EU.

Kristersson said he had discussed the scheme with the EU Commissioner for Migration, Austria's Magnus Brunner, who had assured him a proposal would be forthcoming this spring.

That, Kristersson said, presumably meant sometime in March, according to the interpreter's translation of his remarks during a joint press conference with Nehammer.

"There is some momentum right now," Kristersson said.

Nehammer praised Kristersson for keeping immigration on the EU's agenda, and argued there were now 18 countries within Europe's Schengen free travel area, including Switzerland and Norway, whose interests were aligned on curbing migrant flows.

The Austrian chancellor said that concerned governments had managed to "completely change" discussion around immigration so that countries with no external EU border, such as Austria, were now more involved in addressing the issue.

"Only when we recognize that the problem must be solved together do we have a chance of making progress," he said.