The 2024 national conference of EMN Finland shall examine the state of play as well as the future prospects of the situation of Ukrainians in Finland and in EU countries. The conference aims to address the challenges of integration in a situation where beneficiaries of temporary protection find themselves between two countries. The conference seeks to support these persons in the limbo between integration and return.

The European Migration Network (EMN) Hungary Presidency High-Level Conference will focus on possible avenues for more effective and efficient implementation of returns, with special emphasis on the important aspects of the return procedure, internal coherence, and joint cooperation with third countries and digitalisation to support the common EU system for returns.

In its overview of national forced return monitoring systems across the EU in 2023, the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA) noted that only one EU Member State did not monitor its national forced return operations in 2023. It also highlighted persistent challenges that affect the transparency and effectiveness of monitoring operations.

In a recent judgment, the Court of Justice of the European Union found that an administrative authority which rejects an application for a residence permit based on national law and, consequently, finds that the third-country national concerned is staying illegally on the territory of the Member State in question, must ensure compliance with the principle of non-refoulement, by reviewing, in the light of that principle, the return decision previously adopted against that national in the context of a procedure for international protection. 

A few days after 17 European countries called on the European Commission to submit a new legislative proposal for more effective returns, Justice and Home Affairs Ministers discussed the issue of return during a working lunch in Luxembourg. They tasked experts with starting to explore innovative ideas related to returns. 

In a non-paper, seventeen European countries called on the European Commission to submit a new proposal for more effective returns. The letter emphasises the need for a stricter EU return system with clearer obligations for cooperation from the returnees and less interpretation by the European Court of Justice.

On 2 May 2024, the Chamber of Representatives adopted in plenary session the draft law for a proactive return policy. This law inter alia introduces the obligation for the foreigner to cooperate in the return process and it expands the pool of return escorts. The law also enshrines the principle according to which minor children aren't retained in closed centres.

On 26 April 2024, the Council of Ministers approved, upon proposal by the Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration Nicole de Moor and the Secretary of State in charge of the Buildings Administration Mathieu Michel, the public procurement for new closed centers in Jabbeke and Jumet.

A large delegation from the federal government, accompanied by senior police officers and senior administration officials, is leading a mission to Morocco. The fight against illegal immigration and the return policy are among the priority issues discussed with the Moroccan authorities.

On a proposal from Interior Minister Annelies Verlinden, the Council of Ministers approved a preliminary draft law defining the powers that members of the European Border and Coast Guard would have on national territory during official missions.

The Expert Conference on Return and Reintegration, jointly organised by Belgium’s Federal Agency for the Reception of Asylum Seekers (Fedasil), the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD), the European Border and Coast Guard Agency (Frontex), and the Migration Policy institute Europe (MPI-E) marked a significant moment during the Belgian Presidency of the Council of the EU.

The Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration announced today that a new software was in the process of being developed with the digital product studio "In the pocket" to better manage information relating to the stay of third-country nationals in closed centres. 

During a visit to the prison in Beveren, the Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration said that more illegally staying detainees are being sent back directly from prisons, through the work of the return counsellors in the detention facilities. 

Join us to discuss how to provide irregular migrants with information on voluntary return and how to address vulnerabilities in the return and reintegration process.

The conference of the Belgian National Contact Point to the EMN– which took place on 4 December in Brussels – focused on challenges and opportunities associated with the return of irregular and vulnerable migrants.

Organised in the framework of the Made Real Project funded by the European Union, this conference provides a comprehensive understanding of the EU legal framework on alternatives to detention (ATD) for asylum seekers and
migrants.