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EU MIGRATION AND EU migration and asylum policy

ASYLUM POLICY

The EU and its member states are intensifying efforts to establish

Timeline - EU migration and an effective, humanitarian and safe European migration policy.
asylum policy

On this page:
Migration and asylum pact

The EU’s role in migration

Saving lives at sea and

What happens to migrants and refugees once they arrive?
fighting migrant smuggling
EU migration and asylum rules

How the EU manages Migration routes: where do migrants and refugees come from?
migration flows
Facts and figures on irregular arrivals

The EU's role in migration

The EU and its member states are intensifying
efforts to establish an effective, humanitarian
Timeline
and safe European migration policy. The
European Council plays an important role in this
effort by setting the strategic priorities. 20/12/2023 Council and Parliament agree on
reform of EU asylum and migration
system
Based on these priorities, the Council of the EU
establishes lines of action and provides the 04/10/2023 Council agrees mandate on EU law
dealing with crisis situations
mandates for negotiations with non-EU
countries. It also adopts legislation and defines 05/12/2023 The Spanish presidency updates
ministers with a progress report on
specific programmes. Over the past few years, the migration and asylum pact
the Council and European Council have built up
30/06/2023 Conclusions by the President of the
a strong response to migratory pressure. European Council on the external
dimension of migration
In October 2015, the Luxembourg presidency
08/06/2023 Council reaches an agreement on
activated the integrated political crisis response key asylum and migration laws
(IPCR) arrangements. These provide concrete
tools to help coordinate the political response to
a crisis by bringing together key actors. See full timeline

 The Council's response to crises (background

information)

EU migration and asylum rules

Asylum seekers should be treated uniformly across Europe, the EU is working towards this.

 EU migration and asylum rules (background information)

What happens to migrants and refugees once they arrive?

The EU has adopted various rules to manage legal migration flows, process asylum requests and return
illegal migrants.

 How the EU manages migration flows (background information)

Facts and figures on irregular arrivals

274 404 arrivals in 2023

Central route Eastern route Western route

1 000 000

800 000

600 000

400 000

200 000

2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

Source: Frontex and Spanish Ministry of Interior

 Text version

Migration routes: where do

migrants and refugees Infographic - Migration flows:
come from? Eastern, Central and Western
routes
Migrants and refugees try to reach Europe
mainly via 4 main migratory routes, with one
additional temporary route from Ukraine since
Russia launched a military aggression in
February 2022:

 Eastern Mediterranean route (background

information)

 Western Mediterranean and Western African

route (background information)
See full infographic
 Central Mediterranean route (background
information)

 Western Balkans route (background

information)

 Refugee inflow from Ukraine (background

information)

See also

  Migration and asylum (European Commission)

 EU immigration portal
 European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex)
 European Migrant Smuggling Centre (Europol)

Home Affairs Russia’s war on Ukraine Foreign affairs & international relations
Topics:
Security & defence Justice Migration and asylum

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 Is there something wrong with this page? Last reviewed on 22 January 2024

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