France has thrown a spanner in the works of the European Union’s plan to open return centres for rejected asylum seekers in third countries, with President Emmanuel Macron declaring on Friday that such facilities run counter to the bloc’s founding values.

Speaking ahead of an emergency EU summit in Brussels, Macron told reporters that he would “oppose the use of the EU budget to build them,” adding: “I am not sure that this is the Europe we want.” His remarks came as 19 member states, including the Czech Republic, signed a joint letter urging faster implementation of the EU’s return regulation and the swift transfer of irregular migrants to facilities outside the bloc.

The Franco-Spanish pushback marks a sharp reversal from the Meloni-Frederiksen model, named after Italy’s Prime Minister and Denmark’s former migration minister, which envisages EU-funded centres in North Africa and the Balkans to process and repatriate those with no legal right to stay. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez, attending the same summit, defended regularisation and labour-market inclusion instead, telling reporters: “That is what businesses are calling for.”

Macron’s objections extend beyond budgetary concerns. In an interview with *Libération*, a collective of French art directors accused his government of abandoning 87 researchers and artists stranded in Gaza after Paris suspended the Collège de France’s “Pause” programme, calling the situation “absurd and tragic.”

The diplomatic rupture complicates a policy already under strain. Humanitarian groups warn that the EU’s migration stance is drifting toward crisis, while Slovenia’s Prime Minister Janez Janša hailed the 19-country alliance as a sign that “the end is near” for left-wing electoral support on the issue.

With the European Council meeting in session, the bloc now faces a stark choice: either water down the return-centre plan to accommodate Macron’s objections or risk a budgetary and political showdown that could derail broader EU priorities.

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Articles

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