Interior Minister Karner meets Danish Migration Minister on Return Hubs outside Europe

Interior Minister Gerhard Karner met Danish Migration Minister Morten Bødskov in Vienna for a working meeting on 17 August 2026.

Discussions focused on processing asylum applications and establishing return centres in countries outside the EU, as Austria and Denmark, together with the Netherlands, Germany and Greece, are working on establishing such centres outside Europe.

Karner said that "Austria and Denmark have been close partners for around four years and have therefore also been driving forces behind asylum procedures and return hubs in countries outside Europe. We are now working together - concretely and consistently - on their implementation."

The Danish Minister stressed that "We need to be more focused on our borders, including that we have to be able to send people to return hubs. Fair to say that when we started, we tried to fight alone, but the legal ground is clear now and more and more countries have the vision of return hubs. Now we can take the next step to come closer to concrete the project.”

The goal is to identify at least one partner country by the end of 2026 in order to launch a first project in 2027. The progress will be reviewed at a meeting in Copenhagen on 4 September 2026, where the countries will agree on further steps.