52 per cent of EU citizens back return centres in third countries, with support on the left as well

Brussels – The vast majority of European Union citizens appear to welcome the new crackdown on irregular immigration planned by Brussels following the signing of the new Pact on Asylum and Migration in May 2024. And precisely one of the most controversial proposals in this strategy – even among centre-left voters – is finding broad support: the establishment of return centres for irregular migrants located in non-EU countries, which is set to officially come into force as part of an ad hoc EU regulation following the agreement reached between the European Parliament and the Council on 1 June.

This marked and widespread anti-immigration sentiment among EU citizens is confirmed by the latest survey by Polling Europe Euroscope – a market research and polling institute based in Brussels, a joint venture between SWG and OpinionWay – previewed exclusively by Eunews.

According to the survey results, 52 per cent of respondents said they were ‘in favour’ of the EU concluding agreements with third countries to host return centres for all migrants whose asylum applications on European soil have been rejected. Only 25 per cent of respondents, however, expressed opposition, while the remaining 23 per cent said they did not know how to answer.

Polling Europe also provides specific survey results for the five most populous EU member states: Germany, France, Italy, Spain, and Poland. Among the citizens of these countries, the highest percentages in favour of building so-called return hubs are the Germans – with 58 per cent holding a positive view and 22 per cent a negative one, followed by the Spaniards (54 per cent versus 30 per cent), the French (51 per cent versus 18 per cent), and Poles (49 per cent versus 22 per cent). Italy, on the other hand, is the country where the gap between those in favour and those against is narrowest, with 42 per cent of respondents supporting the proposal from Brussels and 36 per cent opposing it.

These are objectively surprising results. The country where anti-immigration rhetoric seems to be gaining the most traction is Spain: the very same country led by one of the most progressive governments in the entire EU, a government that has made migrant‑regularisation policies one of the key drivers of the record economic growth Madrid has posted in recent years. Conversely, the idea of repatriation centres is met with a cooler reception in Italy, where Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing government has already attempted to implement the model of agreements with third countries by establishing two migrant centres in the Albanian towns of Shengjin and Gjader. According to figures in the report by the National Ombudsman for Persons Deprived of Liberty – published last October – only 56 people have actually been repatriated to their countries of origin since the centres opened in October 2024. A substantial failure that may help explain the survey results relating to Italy.

The figures from the Polling Europe survey yield even more interesting conclusions when viewed through the lens of respondents’ political leanings. The proposal for repatriation centres predictably finds broad support among voters for centre-right and right-wing European parties: 70 per cent are in favour among supporters of Sovereign Europe of Nations (ESN), 63 per cent of those who support the Conservatives and Reformists (ECR, the group to which Prime Minister Meloni’s party, Fratelli d’Italia, belongs), 61 per cent of those who vote for Patriots for Europe (PfE, the political family to which the League belongs), and 58 per cent of voters for the European People’s Party (EPP, the party to which Forza Italia belongs).

Less predictably, support rates are also quite high among left-wing and centre-left European citizens. The idea of repatriation centres in third countries is welcomed by 43 per cent of supporters of La Sinistra (The Left, which includes the Five Star Movement and Sinistra Italiana) and among voters for the Greens (Greens/EFA). The figure rises to as much as 49 per cent among those who identify with the Socialists and Democrats (S&D, represented in Italy by the Democratic Party) and to 57 per cent among those who identify as voters for the liberal group Renew Europe.

Surprising as they may be, these figures reflect a trend also evident in the European Parliament. When MEPs were called upon to vote on the European Parliament’s position on the new return regulation on 26 March, the text was passed by a large majority, thanks in part to the support of minority factions within the centre-left groups.

According to the roll call of that meeting, it turns out that 13 MEPs from Renew and 7 from S&D voted in favour, while a further 22 Liberal MEPs, 7 Socialists, and one Green MEP abstained.