New ‘Facilitation’ Directive: migrant people and solidarity under threat

On 28 November 2023, the European Commission adopted a proposal for a Directive laying down minimum rules to prevent and counter the facilitation of unauthorised entry, transit and stay in the Union (known as the ’Facilitation’ Directive), without any prior impact assessment. Intended to replace and expand the EU legal framework currently in force on this matter (the 2002 ’Facilitators Package’), it updates the definition of the offence of facilitation and the existing criminal law framework.

The new Directive was presented by the European Commission as a means of ’improving’ and ’modernising’ the current legal framework. Yet, far from resolving the problems posed by this framework, it instead introduces new grounds for criminalisation, without including any exemption provision for humanitarian action or human rights defence work. Several organisations and institutions have warned of the risk of systematising the criminalisation already experienced today by migrant people and solidarity organisations. In the coming months, the text will be negotiated among the European institutions.

This analysis aims to shed light on the main changes this text would introduce, as well as the risks it poses for both people on the move and those who support them.