EU interior ministers reached a broad agreement on a migration reform package on Monday, filling the final gaps in the European Union's migration reform and paving the way for negotiations with the European Parliament.
The three main draft laws significantly rewrite the rules on asylum in the EU and are part of the Pact on Migration and Asylum – the EU's flagship plan, which is expected to enter into force by June 2026.
At a meeting in Brussels, ministers approved what the European Commission has long called the “missing piece” of the system: the return regulation. The law, first proposed in March, allows EU countries to set up “return centres” outside EU territory for migrants awaiting deportation.
“The agreement will enable both the EU and one or more member states to enter into an agreement with a third country on the establishment of return centres,” said Denmark’s Immigration Minister, Rasmus Stoklund.
Ministers also approved changes to the safe third country concept, which would make it easier to reject asylum applications and enable deportations to countries the applicant has only passed through.
For the first time, EU countries will have a list of safe countries of origin at European level, which includes Bangladesh, Colombia, Egypt, India, Kosovo, Morocco and Tunisia. In addition to these countries, the Commission also considers EU candidate countries, such as Turkey and Georgia, as safe. Applications from citizens of these countries will be processed more quickly.
The most difficult political battle was whether all EU states should automatically enforce each other's deportation orders, part of the proposal on returns.
The final text presents a two-stage mechanism: first voluntary and then binding. It also creates common procedures for the EU, creates obligations for those who do not have the right to stay, strengthens cooperation between capitals and enables the creation of "return centres" in countries outside the EU.
Some governments feared that mutual recognition of returns would allow frontline states, such as Spain, Italy or Greece, to send migrants across the border, burdening other states with the burden of enforcement.
Ministers also reached an agreement on the Pact's solidarity mechanism, which requires every EU capital to contribute through relocations, financial support or operational assistance.
The Commission had proposed 30,000 relocations or equivalent financial support (€20,000 per person), but ministers agreed on a lower but binding target: 21,000 relocations or €420 million for the cycle until 2026.
Civil society organizations reacted with concern to the Council agreement, particularly to the article of the proposal on returns, which would allow authorities to carry out additional searches, investigations and checks to implement deportations.
This provision would include both the homes of individuals who are under return orders, as well as “other important facilities,” possibly including the residences of EU citizens suspected of harboring migrants, as well as NGO offices and humanitarian centers.
“This new proposal bears the hallmarks of a police state,” warned Silvia Carta, support officer at the Platform for International Cooperation on Undocumented Migrants.
According to her, allowing authorities to enter private homes with such freedom is a clear attempt to intimidate anyone who helps a person and to endanger people in need even more.
With the return regulation, the EU is “legitimizing extraterritorial prisons, racial profiling, and child incarceration in ways we haven’t seen before,” said Sarah Chander, director at the Equinox Initiative for Racial Justice.
