The German government is considering the creation of “return centers” outside the European Union to transfer certain irregular migrants there, according to information from the German daily Bild. Among the countries mentioned is Tunisia, alongside Uganda, but no agreement has been reached and Tunis has not been officially requested. According to the newspaper, other avenues are also being studied, including the region of Iraqi Kurdistan, considered by Berlin to be relatively stable and likely to accommodate similar structures.
According to Bild, Berlin is seeking to outsource part of the processing of rejected or non-deportable migrants and has identified several potential states to host transit centers. Tunisia appears in this preliminary list, in a project still in the exploratory phase.
The newspaper specifies that this system would not specifically target Tunisians and that it is not a mechanism for the automatic return of non-Tunisian migrants to Tunisia. At this stage, there is no legal basis or bilateral cooperation allowing such transfers.
No consultation of Tunis
No official Tunisian reaction has been published regarding the information reported by Bild. According to available data, Tunis was not associated with the discussions mentioned by the German press.
Since 2023, President Kaïs Saïed has repeatedly affirmed that Tunisia “will never agree to be a resettlement country” and refuses to welcome migrants whose care European states seek to outsource.
On December 6, 2025 in Geneva, Mohamed Ali Nafti, Tunisian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Migration and Tunisians Abroad, reaffirmed this position during a round table of the International Organization for Migration (IOM), declaring that Tunisia refuses to be a country of transit or settlement for irregular migrants.
Tunisians expelled from Germany: what already exists
The expulsions of Tunisian nationals from Germany are not new and fall within a framework distinct from the projects mentioned by Bild.
Between 2018 and 2025, around 1,780 Tunisians were sent back to their country of origin during organized return flights, according to data compiled by several specialized NGOs. Last year, nearly 300 Tunisians were subject to expulsion after their asylum applications were rejected or their legal status was lost. These forced returns, carried out on a case-by-case basis, fall under classic bilateral procedures between Tunis and Berlin and are not linked to the concept of “return centers” currently under study by Germany.
A European project still uncertain
The idea of return centers follows EU interior ministers’ approval of a common position on safe countries and the future repatriation regulation. Negotiations must now begin with the European Parliament.
The project nevertheless remains distant: several legal, financial and diplomatic questions remain unanswered, and no third state has yet agreed to host such structures.
At the European level, the feasibility of these centers remains uncertain. Several groups in Parliament believe that the outsourcing of asylum procedures could contravene European rules and international law, while no similar system has ever been implemented despite several attempts by the EU in recent years.
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