BRUSSELS: Migration was at the top of the agenda as EU leaders met in Brussels on Thursday, with most governments keen to display a tough stance after hard-right gains in several countries, but little agreement on a course of action.

Talk of easing deportations, creating processing centers outside the European Union and speeding up implementation of a long-negotiated deal agreed on earlier this year have dominated the run-up to a summit that crystallized a rightward shift in the bloc’s rhetoric. Italy’s hard-right Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni hosted a mini-summit in Brussels just ahead of the main event to discuss a common approach with 10 like-minded countries, including Denmark, the Netherlands and Hungary and Greece. EU chief Ursula von der Leyen was also present.

“We recognize that we need to think out of the box in order to address this pressing concern,” Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis told reporters. But divisions remain among the bloc’s 27 countries on the next steps, in particular a controversial idea of creating return “hubs” outside the EU.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz dismissed the concept as representing “very few small drops”—and not a viable answer to the migration challenges of a large country. “If we all followed the rules we have together, we would already be much further ahead,” he said. Germany is among nations that want an early implementation of a landmark migration pact struck this year, which hardens border procedures and requires countries to take in asylum seekers from “frontline” states or provide money and resources.

But others say the package, set to come into force in June 2026, falls short. A majority have backed a proposal to expedite deportations of irregular migrants and explore other “innovative solutions”, as Meloni posted on X on Thursday. Meloni showcased the deal Rome struck with Albania to send some migrants there, according to her office. Other EU capitals have shown keen interest in the scheme, and von der Leyen has said the bloc will draw lessons from it.

Finding “solutions” to possibly return some Syrian refugees to Syria was also talked about, according to a diplomatic source. Detected irregular border crossings into the European Union are down more than 40 percent this year after reaching the highest level in nearly a decade in 2023, according to EU border agency Frontex. But migration remains “seen as a pressing and an urgent domestic issue” by many EU nations, a senior EU diplomat said.

Germany, which is part of the bloc’s Schengen free movement area, tightened border controls in September in response to several suspected Islamist attacks. -- AFP