Migration management : delivering on operational measures.
Date: 2023-12-12
Institutions: Directorate-General for Communication
Subjects: EU migration policy, asylum seeker, border control, cooperation policy, legislation

Migration management:

Delivering on  
operational measures

#MigrationEU
October 2023 

“By  working  together,  we  can  ensure  that  migration  is 
managed  in  an  orderly,  humane,  and  fair  way,  protecting 
fundamental rights. That means using our collective weight 
to  the  maximum:  the  progress  made  this  year  offers  a 
tangible  demonstration  of  how  the  EU  is  determined  to 
keep  up  the  momentum  to  deliver  our  common  work  on 
migration and to reassert the effectiveness of our borders.”

Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission President, 24 October 2023

Progress on the New Pact on Migration and Asylum

The negotiations on the New Pact on Migration and Asylum are ongoing, with key legislative files in trilogues: 
Eurodac Regulation, Screening Regulation, Asylum Procedure Regulation, Asylum and Migration 
Management Regulation and Crisis Regulation. 

The Commission stands ready to work with the co-legislators to ensure agreement on the Pact as set out in the 
Joint Roadmap to finalise negotiations by the end of the mandate.

NEW

Strengthening engagement with key partners

Working with international partners

Relations with our partners have been taken forward in 
all key regions. The external dimension is essential for the 
successful implementation of an EU migration policy. 

Working in a Team Europe approach with 
comprehensive partnerships will allow the Commission 
to work with partners in areas such as preventing 
irregular migration, effective returns and reinforcing 
readmission cooperation. 

The Commission is accelerating work to fully 
implement the Memorandum of Understanding with 
Tunisia on all its five pillars: macro-economic stability, 
economy and trade, green energy transition, people-to-
people, migration and mobility. 

Under this Memorandum, the Commission delivered spare 
parts for Tunisian coast guards keeping 6 boats operational 
and others will be repaired by the end of the year.

The cooperation and support to IOM and UNHCR in the 
region also remains strong.

More tailor-made partnerships are needed. This needs to 
be done along all migratory routes. For instance:

•  on the Western Mediterranean and Atlantic route, 
reinforcing cooperation with Senegal and Mauritania 

•  on the Eastern Mediterranean, to establish a 

strategic and mutually beneficial partnership with 
Egypt, continuing engagement with Türkiye, Jordan 
and Lebanon. 

Fighting smuggling

The Commission is stepping up its efforts to tackle 
migrant smuggling working both on the legislative and 
operational track. 

The Commission will present at the end of November 
new proposals to update the legislative framework 
fighting migrant smuggling. 

Border management 

NEW

€
Funding

•  EUR 200 million allocated to Member States under 
the Borders Management and Visa Instrument to 
purchase equipment.

•  EUR 10.2 million EU contribution for Romania 

developing a motion detection system at the land 
border with Serbia.

•  EUR 45 million EU contribution for Bulgaria expanding 
the surveillance system along the border with Türkiye.

NEW

In parallel, we continue to work with 
partners in the Western Balkans, North 
Africa, as well as at UN level with the 
UNODC. This is why on 28 November 
this year, the Commission will host an 
International Conference on migrant 
smuggling to create a Global Alliance 
with a Call to action. 

Frontex support

•  Since April, Frontex is deploying standing 

corps along the borders of North Macedonia.

The Status Agreement with Montenegro is 
provisionally applicable since July.

The Status Agreement with Albania was 
signed in September. 

Negotiations continue with Serbia and will start 
soon with Bosnia and Herzegovina. 

Safe and legal pathways
The Commission will work with Member States to expand safe and legal avenues. 

The 2024-2025 pledging exercise has now been completed. The Commission is supporting Member States also with 
additional funding for resettlement available to Member States on their programmes with EUR 480 million over 
2023-2025. 

Roundtables on the launch of Talent Partnerships with Morocco, Tunisia, Egypt, Pakistan and 
Bangladesh were held before the summer. Programmes and roadmaps for their implementation are 
under preparation.

NEW

To launch mobility schemes under Talent Partnerships, Commissioner Johansson will invite Member 
States for a first high-level meeting in November this year.

Before the end of the year the Commission will also put forward a proposal on the EU Talent Pool. 
The EU Talent Pool will act as a channel to facilitate the matching between vacancies in the EU and 
third-country nationals from outside the EU. 

Supporting Member States along the migratory routes

Cooperation on Search and Rescue 
The Search and Rescue (SAR) Contact Group agreed to 
intensify efforts working towards a closer framework of 
cooperation on SAR. 

Several concrete areas have been discussed to work 
towards a closer framework of cooperation, including 
engaging at technical level discussions. The latest  
SAR Contact Group meeting took place on  
2 October, focusing on updates from Member States 
on the main migratory routes.

EU Action Plans for strengthened 
operational cooperation

NEW

Earlier in October, the Commission 
presented an EU Action Plan on the 
Eastern Mediterranean route. 

The Action Plan contains 29 operational 
measures to address the common and 
ongoing challenges, articulated around 4 
main areas: 

1.  Preventing irregular departures, combatting migrant 
smuggling and providing legal migration pathways

2.  Reinforcing effective border management along the 

Eastern Mediterranean route, including in countries of 
origin and transit

3.  Strengthening cooperation on returns and 

readmission

4.  Ensuring efficient migration management, improve 

asylum procedures and support reception

This Action Plan follows the EU Action Plan for the 
Central Mediterranean (November 2022), on the 
Western Balkans (December 2022) , and on the 
Western Mediterranean and Atlantic routes  
(June 2023).

 
Visa Policy 

Visa-free travel brings significant economic, social, and cultural benefits and boosts travel and the tourism 
sector. The Commission also proposed in October a revision of the current visa suspension mechanism. 
The proposed revision will:

•  Commissioner Johansson continued outreach, particularly in the context of the Article 25 Visa Code Process

NEW

•  Vice-President Schinas travelled to a number of countries of origin and transit to foster cooperation, 
including on return and readmission. 

Visa policy is also an important tool in the EU’s engagement with partner countries. Outreach in visa policy 
alignment brought improved results as regards the arrivals via the Western Balkans route. 

expand the grounds to suspend visa-free regimes, such as in case of hybrid threats

increase the duration of the current procedure to allow more time for remedial actions

strengthen the Commission’s monitoring and reporting obligations.

Accelerating asylum procedures and expediting returns

Update pilot projects: Romania and 
Bulgaria 
In October, six months since the projects have started, 
the Commission reported onprogress made by Bulgaria 
and Romania on fast asylum and return procedures. 

Best practices were identified in the area of accelerated 
asylum procedures and effective returns, border 
management and reinforced cooperation with 
neighbouring countries.

The projects will continue, to further capitalise on the 
positive achievements so far. 

ROMANIA

SERBIA

BULGARIA

TÜRKIYE

More effective returns
Strengthening cooperation on returns and readmission 
is central to the EU response to irregular movements.

The current rate of returns remains low at 22%.  
To substantially increase these figures, it is necessary 
for Member States to pool resources and capacities 
together under a common EU return system.

The Commission is ready to work in teams with 
Member States on targeted return actions to 
develop a roadmap ensuring:

•  return decisions are issued at the same time as 

negative asylum decisions

•  systematic mutual recognition of return decision 

•  carrying out joint identification actions

•  supporting policy dialogue on readmission with partner 
countries, facilitating the issuance of travel documents 
and the acceptance of the EU 
laissez passer

•  voluntary return and joint 

return operations with Frontex 
support. 

The EU Return Coordinator 
is working with the High-Level 
Network for Returns to address 
the situation of third country 
nationals illegally staying in the 
EU and posing a security threat.

Addressing secondary movements and ensuring effective solidarity

Showing solidarity in practice 
Since June 2022, the Voluntary Solidarity Mechanism 
continues to act as a precursor to a permanent system 
under the New Pact on Migration and Asylum. 

3289 relocations have been carried out to date from 
all MED5 countries, out of 8000 pledges made by  
13 Member States. In parallel, contributing States are 
providing financial support for the implementation 
of projects in migration management in the 
Mediterranean countries. 

Reducing secondary movements
Unauthorised movements within the EU undermine 
trust between the Member States which is essential 
to sustain an area free from internal borders. Whilst 
we work to renew the EU’s legal framework, the 
existing rules need to be applied in full. 

NEW

•  EUAA mapping reception 
conditions mid-November

•  Member States have increasingly used 
the Schengen Information System 
return alerts. Since March when it went 
into force, over 200 000 new alerts 
on returns were introduced by 
Member States. 

•  Before the end of the year, the 
Commission will present a set of good 
practices to enhance the effectiveness 
of the Dublin Regulation.

© European Union, 2023 
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Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union, 2023 

Print      ISBN 978-92-68-09001-5    doi: 10.2775/911066      NA-09-23-508-EN-C

PDF       ISBN 978-92-68-08972-9    doi: 10.2775/339271      NA-09-23-508-EN-N