On 12 December 2018, the Belgian contact point of the EMN organized its annual asylum and migration policy event in which recent national and EU developments in the field of international protection, legal migration and integration and irregular migration, human trafficking and return were discussed. 

This conference seeks to shed light on the interesting topic of returning third-country nationals who have entered or stayed irregularly in the EU, as well as on their subsequent reintegration.

In his State of the Union, President Jean-Claude Juncker presented proposals to ensure full EU solidarity on migration and better protection of Europe's external borders. The Commission is proposing to reinforce the European Border and Coast Guard and the EU's Agency for Asylum and is proposing a targeted review of the Return Directive.

Today, the State Secretary for Asylum Policy and Migration and his Tunisian counterpart signed an agreement which focuses on cooperation regarding migration and return.

In February, Fedasil, the federal agency in charge of the reception of asylum seekers, has signed a framework agreement with the Belgian development agency, Enabel (www.enabel.be).

From 21 until 23 February 2018, the Belgian State Secretary for Asylum Policy and Migration, Theo Francken, visited Guinea in order to discuss the questions of – inter alia - irregular migration and return.

Today, Frontex published its Risk Analysis for 2018, which concentrates on the scope of Frontex operational activities and, in particular, on irregular migration at the external borders of the EU and Schengen Associated Countries.

On 22 December 2017, Deputy Prime Minister Jan Jambon, in the name of the government, asked the Office of the Commissioner General for Refugees and Stateless Persons (CGRS) to carry out an independent inquiry regarding the risk in case of return to Sudan. The report was handed over to the government on 8 February 2018. 

In october 2016, Fedasil has opened a new return desk in Charleroi, where migrants can receive information and assistance on voluntary return.

The REDIAL conference proposes for discussion some of the most contentious issues in the implementation of the Return Directive.

The Finnish Contact Point of the EMN organizes this conference to present and discuss the outcomes of the EMN study on the return of rejected asylum-seekers.

On the 6th and 7th of July, the Slovakian National Contact Point - in connection with its Member State's Presidency of the Council of the EU - organizes the EMN conference on sustainable returns and cooperation with countries of origin.

On 6 and 7 July, the Slovakian National Contact Point of the EMN - in connection with its Member State's Presidency of the Council of the EU - organized the annual EMN conference. This time the conference focused on sustainable returns and cooperation with countries of origin.

At the initiative of the State Secretary for Asylum Policy and Migration, the premiums granted to Afghan and Iraqi nationals who voluntarily return to their country of origin have been temporarily doubled.