Spain is set to remain the only European Union member state opposing a major overhaul of EU migration policy after Brussels reached a deal on new rules designed to increase deportations and allow the creation of migrant return centres outside the bloc.
The provisional agreement, reached on Monday between the European Commission, European Parliament and EU member states, is intended to strengthen the EU’s ability to remove migrants whose asylum applications have been rejected and to improve what Brussels sees as an ineffective deportation system. ALSO READ: European Parliament MPs give preliminary approval to ‘return hubs’ for migrants.
Spain was the sole country to vote against the proposed return regulation when it was discussed by EU governments in December 2025, and Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez’s government is expected to maintain its opposition when the legislation comes before the European Parliament for final approval. ALSO READ: PM Sánchez defends Spain’s immigration model, urging Europe to take note.
The stance further underlines Spain’s increasingly distinctive approach to migration at a time when much of Europe is moving towards tougher controls. While several EU governments have embraced stricter measures amid growing public concern over migration and the rise of anti-immigration parties, Spain has continued to pursue comparatively more welcoming policies, including plans to regularise more than 500,000 undocumented migrants already living in the country. ALSO READ: Spain to commence mass regularisation of undocumented migrants.
European officials argue the reform is necessary because the current system is failing. According to EU data, fewer than 30% of people ordered to leave the bloc are actually returned to their countries of origin. Data from 2025 showed the EU deportation rate reached 27.5%, the highest level in a decade. ALSO READ: Spain to link newly regularised migrants with jobs amid labour shortages.
Spain, however, ranked among the poorest-performing countries when it came to carrying out deportation orders, executing just 10.6% of removals, ahead of only the Netherlands and Portugal. ALSO READ: Spain granted citizenship to 300,000 foreigners in 2025 – highest annual figure since records began.
‘Today’s agreement shows that we are bringing our European house in order,”‘said Magnus Brunner, the European Union’s commissioner for migration.
‘With the new rules, we have more control over who can come to the EU, who can stay and who needs to leave.’
Nicholas Ioannides, Cyprus’s deputy migration minister, whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU, said: ‘The new regulation will speed up the return process and increase returns of persons who have no legal right to stay in the EU.’
A key element of the reform is the creation of so-called return hubs in non-EU countries. Under the new rules, member states would be able to strike agreements with third countries to establish centres where rejected asylum seekers could be sent, either permanently or while awaiting removal to their country of origin.
At least five countries — Germany, Austria, the Netherlands, Denmark and Greece — are already exploring agreements with countries outside the EU, largely in Africa, based on a model similar to Italy’s controversial arrangement with Albania.
Dutch MEP Malik Azmani, who led negotiations on the legislation in the European Parliament, said the bloc needed stronger enforcement.
Europe cannot afford another period of standstill,’ he said. ‘There is an urgent need for an effective return policy with higher return rates.’
Noting that only around 28% of rejected asylum seekers currently leave the EU, Azmani added: ‘This situation is deeply concerning. It undermines public confidence in our common migration policies.’
Spain’s socialist (PSOE) government has repeatedly expressed reservations about the proposal.
Madrid has previously stated that it ‘does not foresee signing agreements with third countries for the transfer of migrants to return centres outside the EU under the terms set out in the proposed regulation’. ALSO READ: EU pushes stricter visa controls amid renewed migration focus.
Spain’s Interior Minister Fernando Grande-Marlaska has also raised what he described as ‘serious legal, political, and economic concerns’ about the scheme, warning it could have a ‘negative impact0 on relations with key international partners.
France has likewise questioned the effectiveness of return hubs, and some diplomats remain sceptical about whether they will achieve their stated aims.
Critics point to previous attempts to process migrants outside Europe that have encountered significant legal and practical obstacles. Britain abandoned plans to send undocumented migrants to Rwanda, while Italy’s Albania processing centres have faced court challenges and limited use.
Human rights organisations have reacted strongly against the new regulation, arguing it risks undermining protections for migrants and asylum seekers.
‘This deal will give governments much broader powers to detain and deport people,’ said Marta Welander of the International Rescue Committee.
‘It looks set to normalise immigration raids, expand the use of detention in prison-like facilities outside EU territory that are essentially legal black holes and increase the risk of people being deported to countries where they could face persecution, torture or worse.’
Silvia Carter, spokesperson for the Brussels-based Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants, compared aspects of the proposal to immigration enforcement policies in the United States.
‘Across the Atlantic, we see the violence and fear created by ICE’s brutal immigration enforcement,’ she said. ‘Europe should be learning from the harms of that model, not building its own version of it.’
Supporters, however, say stronger deportation measures are necessary if the EU is to maintain public confidence in its asylum system.
The legislation forms part of a broader shift in European migration policy since the 2015 refugee crisis and the subsequent rise of anti-immigration political movements across the continent. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has argued that tougher measures are needed to prevent a repeat of the large-scale migration flows seen during the Syrian civil war.
At the same time, irregular border crossings into the EU continue to decline. According to the bloc’s border agency, detections of irregular crossings fell by 40% during the first four months of 2026 compared with the same period a year earlier. ALSO READ: Irregular migration to Spain dropped by over 40% in 2025.
The agreement must still receive formal approval from both the European Parliament and EU member states before it can enter into force, but with broad support across most of the bloc, its adoption is widely expected.
If approved, Spain will remain the lone dissenting voice in a European Union that is increasingly moving towards a tougher migration and deportation policy.
Subscribe to the Weekly Newsletter from Spain in English.
Today’s agreement on new return rules marks an important step in the reform of the European migration management system. With the new rules, we have more control over who can come to the EU, who can stay, and who needs to leave.https://t.co/jsnhN8L9vA
— Magnus Brunner (@magnusbrunner) June 1, 2026
