---
title: "Interior Minister Karner and Danish Migration Minister Bødskov meet in Vienna on return hubs outside Europe; Partner country to be identified by end-2026"
sdDatePublished: "2026-08-24T14:43:00Z"
source: "https://dip.euaa.europa.eu/print/pdf/node/13760"
topics:
  - name: "immigration policy"
    identifier: "medtop:20000634"
  - name: "international relations"
    identifier: "medtop:20000638"
  - name: "diplomacy"
    identifier: "medtop:20000639"
  - name: "refugees and internally displaced people"
    identifier: "medtop:20000645"
locations:
  - "Hovedstaden"
  - "Vienna"
  - "Netherlands"
  - "Greece"
  - "Germany"
  - "Austria"
  - "Denmark"
---


Interior Minister Karner and Danish Migration Minister Bødskov meet in Vienna on return hubs outside Europe; Partner country to be identified by end-2026

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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.
Source(s)
Federal Ministry of the Interior | Bundesministerium für Inneres (17 August, 2026), Dänischer
Migrationsminister zu Arbeitsgespräch in Wien [Danish Migration Minister for working
meeting in Vienna],
https://www.bmi.gv.at/news8b98.html?id=676758647a656271654b773d
Date of development
17.08.2026
Country
Austria
Thematic area(s)
General asylum and migration development, Return
Development type
Practice
EUAA
 DIP
© European Union Agency for Asylum, 2026. Reproduction is authorised, provided the source is acknowledged.
Document generated on 24-08-2026
For more information, please contact: ias@euaa.europa.eu
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