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Denmark aims to send migrants outside EU by 2027

Five EU nations meet to finalise plans for return centres for asylum seekers

AI-assisted coverage comparison, editor-supervised · How this was made

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Udlændinge- og integrationsminister Morten Bødskov (S). (Foto: © Niels Ahlmann Olesen, Berlingske/Ritzau Scanpix)

What this story says

  • Denmark anticipates readiness by the end of 2027 to transfer migrants without legal residency to a return hub located outside the European Union.
  • Five EU member states, including Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, and Greece, are collaborating to finalise plans for these external return facilities.
  • Ministers from these five nations convened in Copenhagen to deliberate on the establishment and operational aspects of the deportation centres.
  • The EU Parliament approved new rules in June that enable the creation of deportation centres beyond EU borders.

Who covered it

Left 42%(42)Centre 29%(30)Right 29%(29)

Percentages are shares of the 101 outlets carrying a published leaning rating. 136 of the 237 outlets we know ran this story carry no rating and are not counted in them. Coverage measured .

Trust

42/100

Craft

57/100

Hype

41/100

237 sources · methodology

Missing from the left

Only 42 of the 101 outlets with a published leaning rating that ran this story are rated left.

A reader who follows the left would not have seen this. We report the absence rather than explain it: outlets choose what to cover for many reasons, and we have no evidence about which one applies here.

Denmark expects to be ready by the end of 2027 to send migrants without legal residency to a return hub outside the European Union. Five EU countries, including Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, and Greece, are preparing to finalise plans for such facilities. Ministers from these five countries met in Copenhagen to discuss the establishment and practical functioning of these deportation centres.

The Danish Minister for Immigration and Integration, Morten Bødskov, stated that Denmark is in dialogue with partner countries, but did not disclose their identities. The EU Parliament voted in June to approve new rules that pave the way for the establishment of deportation centres outside the EU. The meeting in Copenhagen was attended by the Danish Minister for Immigration and Integration, Morten Bødskov, and the Greek Minister of Immigration and Asylum, Thanos Plevris, among others.

Disagreement on timeline certainty

The Danish Minister for Immigration and Integration, Morten Bødskov, stated that Denmark expects to be ready by the end of 2027 to send migrants without legal residency to a return hub outside the European Union. DR reported that Bødskov described this as his goal, adjusting a previous statement that suggested certainty. Ekstra Bladet reported Bødskov expects the first foreigner to be sent to a deportation centre in 2027.

What the coverage left out

None of the right-rated digests mention the EU Parliament's vote in June to approve new rules that pave the way for the establishment of deportation centres outside the EU. The left-rated digest does not mention the specific date of the EU Parliament vote.

Coverage settled. We checked this 11 times and stopped on 9 Sept 2026, 14:45. The figures above are what it finished at.

How each side covered it

Our own reading of the reporting listed below, written from the outlets’ articles rather than quoted from them. The reasoning is set out on our methodology page.

Left

42 rated outlets

  • All twelve left‑rated outlets reported that Denmark plans to begin sending rejected asylum seekers to non‑EU return hubs in 2027. Each digest or report highlighted the 2027 target as the central timeline for the proposed deportation centres.
  • DR’s full article quoted immigration minister Morten Bødskov describing the aim as a “clear ambition” and noted his meeting with ministers from Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, Greece and Denmark. It added that 364 rejected asylum seekers were in Denmark and that opposition voices warned of sending people to “autocratic, reactionary states”. Other digests mentioned the five‑nation model and Save the Children’s condemnation of possible inhumane conditions.
  • None of the left‑rated digests included a cost estimate for the centres, and only DR identified the current number of rejected asylum seekers. No outlet specified which third‑country partners would host the hubs, and the location of the centres was omitted across all twelve left‑rated reports.

Centre

30 rated outlets

  • The centre-rated reports from WTVB and Reuters stated that Denmark expects to be ready by the end of 2027 to send migrants without legal residency to a return hub outside the European Union, with five EU countries preparing to finalise plans for such facilities. The cphpost.dk digest also reported that ministers from five EU countries were meeting in Copenhagen to advance plans for transferring rejected asylum seekers to a return hub outside EU borders.

Right

29 rated outlets

  • The right-rated reports from news-pravda.com, The Straits Times, Jyllands-Posten, berlingske.dk, BT, avisendanmark.dk, protothema.gr, and iefimerida.gr focused on Denmark's expectation to be ready by the end of 2027 to send migrants without legal residency to a return hub outside the European Union. Several of these reports mentioned that ministers would meet on Friday to discuss plans to send foreigners without legal residence to deportation centres. The Greek reports from protothema.gr and iefimerida.gr specified that Greece, Denmark, Germany, Austria, and the Netherlands participate in this cooperation scheme.

Questions about this coverage

How did the left and right cover Denmark aims to send migrants outside EU by 2027?
Of the 101 outlets on this story carrying a published leaning rating, 42% are rated left, 29% are rated centre, 29% are rated right. Those percentages are shares of the rated outlets, not of every outlet that ran it, which was 237. The sections above set out what each side emphasised, in its own terms.
Is Denmark aims to send migrants outside EU by 2027 left or right?
Neither side dominates it. Of the 101 rated outlets on this story, 42% are rated left, 29% are rated centre, 29% are rated right, and no side holds the 70% this site would want before calling a field one-sided. A story is not left or right in any case; the outlets that carried it are what carry ratings.
Is the coverage of Denmark aims to send migrants outside EU by 2027 biased?
Denmark aims to send migrants outside EU by 2027 is one event reported by 237 outlets, and this page does not rate the story as biased or unbiased. What it publishes is the spread: which outlets ran it, where named rating organisations place each of them on the spectrum, and what each side chose to lead with. A leaning rating describes an outlet's record over time, not this article, and the two should not be run together.
Which side is not reporting Denmark aims to send migrants outside EU by 2027?
When we first saw this story, outlets rated left had barely covered it. Coverage accretes for hours after an event, so that is where to look rather than a verdict — the split above is the current count, and it is the one to read.
Which outlets covered Denmark aims to send migrants outside EU by 2027?
237 that we know of, every one of them listed further up this page with a link to its own report and to what we hold on the publisher. Nothing here is a summary of somebody else's summary: the outlets are named so the original reporting can be read.
When does Denmark expect to send migrants to a return hub outside the EU?
Denmark expects to be ready by the end of 2027 to send migrants without legal residency to a return hub outside the European Union. This timeline was stated by the Danish Minister for Immigration and Integration, Morten Bødskov.
Which EU countries are involved in planning these return centres?
Five EU countries are involved in planning these return centres: Denmark, Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, and Greece. Ministers from these nations met in Copenhagen to discuss the establishment and practical functioning of the deportation centres.
What is the legal basis for establishing deportation centres outside the EU?
The EU Parliament voted in June to approve new rules that pave the way for the establishment of deportation centres outside the EU. These new rules are intended to make it easier to send individuals without legal residency out of the EU.

Read it at the source

237 outlets, grouped by the leaning a published rating gives them. Every headline links to the original; an underlined outlet name opens our profile of that publisher.

Left

42
Show 34 more

Centre

30
Show 22 more

Right

29
Show 21 more

Not rated

136
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How did this read?

About the coverage, not about the story. We do not ask whether you agree with what happened — we have no honest use for that answer.

Denmark migrant return hub plans | MediaBias News