EU countries on Thursday discussed "innovative" ways to increase the deportations of irregular migrants and rejected asylum-seekers, including controversial plans to set up dedicated return centers outside the bloc.

Far-right gains in several European countries helped put migration issues on top of the agenda as home affairs ministers from the bloc's 27 states met in Luxembourg ahead of a gathering of EU leaders later this month.

"The mood in the room has changed ... that is crystal clear," Dutch migration minister Marjolein Faber, of the nationalist populist Party for Freedom (PVV), told reporters after the talks.