EU needs detention and removal centre for migrants - official

BRUSSELS (Reuters) - European Union countries that register arriving migrants also need detention and removal centres to handle those that are not granted the right to stay in the 28-nation bloc, European Migration Commissioner Dimitris Avramopoulos said. In an interview with the Euractiv information website, Avramopulous also said that countries facing the biggest migration pressure like Greece and Italy, should build such centres alongside expanding "hotspots" for handling those who have arrived and are waiting for a decision. "Of course, during that time, people have to stay somewhere. So it is normal that we need more reception places," he said. "But detention or removal centres are also needed for those who receive the decision to return, particularly if there is a risk of absconding and if they are not willing to return voluntarily," Avramopulous told Euractiv. Europe is facing the biggest migration problem since World War Two with more than one million migrants from the Middle East and Africa arriving in the EU only last year. (Reporting By Jan Strupczewski; editing by Ralph Boulton)