EU Updates - October/December 2025

As part of her volunteering mission with Migreurop in partnership with Euromed Rights in Brussels (2025-2026), Jeanne Olivet publishes a trimonthly column in which she summarises the latest news on European migration policies.

October-December 2025 period:

• On December 10, 2025, the European Commission will host the 2025 International Conference of the Global Alliance to Combat "Migrant Smuggling" in Brussels, reports Politico. More than 80 delegations from European agencies, partner countries and international organisations are meeting to strengthen coordination and cooperation on this topic. Delegations plan to approve a joint statement reiterating their commitment to strengthen cooperation along migration routes and tackle the digital aspects of this "trafficking", including by removing digital advertisements used to recruit migrants and disrupting illegal payment systems.

• Simultaneously, the Council of Europe is organising a meetingon 10 December 2025 in Strasbourg to counter attacks on the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) by leaders under pressure related to migration policies, such as Keir Starmer in Germany and Mette Frederiksen in Denmark. Around forty representatives of the 46 member states of the Council of Europe are expected, including British Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy. The aim is to challenge claims that the ECtHR prevents governments from acting on migratory movements, particularly to have more flexibility in terms of deportations. The aim is to start working on a political declaration that is expected to be adopted in Moldova in May 2026.

• On December 8, 2025, the meeting of the EU Justice and Home Affairs - JHA Council resulted in a common position of the Member States on three texts related to the forced return of exiled persons in the Schengen area. Indeed, the Danish Presidency has managed toobtain a general approach shared by the Member States on the Return Regulation, on the European list of "safe" countries of origin, and on the Regulation on the application of the concept of "safe" third countries.". For more information, see the press releaseof the Council of the EU. This common position will be the basis for negotiations with the European Parliament, before the publication of the final text.

• On December 4, 2025, the media outlet Euobserverpublished an article about a new provision in the "return" regulation allowing for "searches of homes or other relevant premises", and the seizure of the personal belongings of people subject to an eviction order in the context of law enforcement operations. This provision, inserted as "Article 23a", was available for consultation by the media. Member States’ interior ministers will discuss this provision on 8 December 2025 at the meeting of the Council of the EU.

• On December 1st, 2025, the European Union adopted a proposal that the readmission rate of third-country nationals, when subject to an expulsion order by a Member State, is taken into account in determining the trade benefits granted to that third country. Politico had access to an EU document stating that "[i]n cases of serious and systematic breaches of the international obligation to readmit nationals of a beneficiary country, preferential arrangements may be temporarily withdrawn, in respect of all or part of the products originating in that beneficiary country, where the Commission considers that an insufficient level of cooperation on readmission persists". These preferential regimes concern certain less economically developed countries, allowing them to export their goods to the European single market at advantageous tariff rates. This reform will come into force on the 1st of January 2027.

• On Novembre 28, 2025, the EU launched the "Pact for the Mediterranean" in Barcelona, which aims to strengthen ties with countries in the region in order to stem so-called irregular immigration. This Pact proposes in particular the creation of a regional forum for peace and security, the increase of judicial and police cooperation (with Europol and Eurojust) and the participation of non-EU countries in the region in common security and defence policy missions [1]. But the launch of the Pact would be half-hearted according to the Euobserver. Indeed, Tunisia, Morocco, Algeria and Israel have sent "low-level" representatives, questioning their commitment to the implementation of the Covenant. According to the media, the objective of the Pact is to create professional opportunities for young people so that they do not have to emigrate.

• According to the Euobserver, the European Ombudsman Teresa Anjinho accuses the European Commission of misusing the notion of "emergency", after an investigation carried out on various proposed pieces of legislation. This inquiry, published on 27 November 2025, would have shown how the Commission bypasses various stages necessary for the legislative process such as impact studies or public consultations before the law is passed. Two of the bills examined concerned the fight against "trafficking in persons in migration" (November 2023). As the Commission justifies a "security emergency", none of these proposals has been the subject of an impact study.

• According to a Euractiv article published on 27 November 2025, Magnus Brunner, the European Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration, said that the European Commission would facilitate but not initiate the non-EU return centres, provided for in the new "return" regulation. For Magnus Brunner, "negotiating return platforms is not the role of the Commission", and it will be up to the Member States to conclude this type of agreement with so-called third countries.

• On November 20, 2025, Statewatch published an analysis on the impacts of the €30 million in aid that the European Union granted to Senegal in October 2024. According to the organisation, this financial support aims to strengthen migration control, in a logic of externalisation. The Atlantic route to the Canary Islands became the deadliest migration route in the world in 2024. Internal Commission documents show that this money will mainly be used to finance border surveillance, interception at sea and the creation of detention infrastructure for intercepted migrants. Thus, this assistance raises concerns about the protection of human rights, particularly regarding respect for the principle of non-refoulement, and about the criminalization of migration.

• On 20 November 2025, Shabana Mahmood, Home Secretary of the United Kingdom, unveiled a comprehensive reform of the UK asylum system, restricting the scope of Articles 3 [2]and 8 [3]of the ECtHR. According to the Euobserver, his reform seeks to reinterpret the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), which is considered "too protective". Article 3 prohibits Member States from practising torture, or subjecting a person within their jurisdiction to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment, including in the event of return. There are no exceptions to this provision of the Convention. However, for the United Kingdom, this notion is too protective and prevents the effectiveness of expulsions from its territory. Article 8 concerns the protection of private and family life, but the country wants to restrict the notion of ’family’ in order to facilitate deportations. The UK’s desire to encourage the ECtHR to reconsider its interpretation of the ECtHR is shared by other Member States. Indeed, Denmark, Austria, Italy, Belgium, Estonia, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland published an open letter to the Court in May 2025 to this effect.

• The EU is entering into informal talks with the Taliban regime to return the Afhgan exiles to their countries of origin. These discussions "follow pressure from 20 European countries for the return of rejected Afghan asylum seekers", Euronews informs in an article published on November 19, 2025. However, the director of the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) for Asia and the Pacific, Kanni Wignaraja, says that "there is a disconnect between international calls for the return of people to Afghanistan and the capacity of Afghan communities to accommodate these people". According to the UN agency, around 4.5 million Afghan nationals have returned to their countries of origin, mainly from Iran and Pakistan.

• The week of 10 November 2025, the European Commission launched its first annual cycle on migration management. The aim of this round is to provide an overview of migration by country within the EU, and to be able to organise "solidarity measures between Member States". According to the Euobserver, , the first results have given rise to three categories: "This document draws up a picture of the needs for aid, the actors who should provide it and those who already indicate that they want to do everything possible to avoid both". Hungary and Poland have already announced that they will not participate in the European Solidarity Fund, not accepting any relocation of asylum seekers, and refusing to pay the penalties provided for in case of refusal. This "solidarity" fund should come into force in the summer of 2026.

• On 5 November 2025, the LIBE Committee [4] of the European Parliament approved the strengthening of the powers of the European agency Europol in the collection, processing and sharing of personal data. This data (including biometric data) will be used for the purpose of "combating smuggling networks". As Infomigrants, reports, this data may be shared with third countries.

• In the European Parliament, a report commissioned by the DEVE committee [5] recommending that the issuance of visas (February 2021 [6]) mais de l’aide publique au développement à la coopération en matière de contrôle des mouvements migratoires but official development assistance should no longer be conditional on cooperation in the control of migratory movements was presented to this committee on 5 November 2025. Chris Jones, executive director of Statewatch, said: "This is another step towards turning EU aid into a bargaining chip for border control." According to Statewatch, , this orientation is also reflected in the EU’s 2028-2034 budget proposals, with the creation of a clause to suspend any financial support if the third country does not cooperate with the readmission of its nationals, who have been subject to an expulsion order from the EU.

You can also find this column on the "On the Move" page on EuroMed Rights website.