The letter was signed by Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Cyprus, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia, Slovakia, and Sweden.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Denmark has taken much of the credit, along with Italy. In a separate statement<\/a>, Denmark\u2019s left-leaning prime minister Mette Frederiksen said her country had been at the forefront of such initiatives.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have stood very much alone. But now there are many of us,\u201d she said. Their hope is to have such hubs up and running before the year\u2019s end, following a similar model to Italy\u2019s deal with Albania whose five year budget is worth \u20ac670m.<\/p>\n Fellow signee Czech prime minister Andrej Babi\u0161 also welcomed discussions on the topic.<\/p>\n \u201cThey were welcoming all those migrants and now when we see what consequences it has on social policies and criminality, they have changed their opinion,\u201d he said of other EU states.<\/p>\n Summit talks were expected to briefly touch on migration, until an exchange between Italy\u2019s Giorgia Meloni and Spanish premier Pedro S\u00e1nchez triggered a greater discussion on returns and European solidarity, a diplomat told EUobserver.<\/p>\n \u201cWe consider that this will not bring any solution\u201d said the Spanish PM after the summit.<\/p>\n French president Emmanuel Macron chimed in at the summit\u2019s closing, telling the press: \u201cThese centres do not work,\u201d and that they don\u2019t respect \u201cthe fundamental principles on which Europe is built.\u201d<\/p>\n Surprisingly, Germany\u2019s Friedrich Merz was not among the 19 chief of states to sign the letter, despite his government highlighting the\u00a0importance of prompt Syrian returns<\/a>.<\/p>\n The surge in interest in return regulations comes on the back of a new EU deportation law, which passed earlier this week amid \u201csend them back\u201d chants made by far-right European law makers.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/\u039a\u03b1\u03c4\u03b1\u03c5\u03bb\u03b9\u03c3\u03bc\u03cc\u03c2_\u03c3\u03c4\u03b7\u03bd_\u03c0\u03cd\u03bb\u03b7_\u03952_\u03a0\u03b5\u03b9\u03c1\u03b1\u03b9\u03ac\u03c2_25032016_6750-600x362.jpg\")
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