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.

On 29 June in Paris, the French NCP of the EMN organised a conference with the objective to discuss labour market integration of beneficiaires of international protection and specific support measures targetting this group, as well as to provide a comparative European perspective.

A law published today in the Belgian Official Gazette limits the duration of the residence permit granted to recognized refugees in Belgium. It will enter into force on 8 July 2016.

The News Release report on 'Asylum in the EU Member States', as well the Statistics Explained 'Asylum quarterly report for the first quarter 2016 are released. These reports provide information on the number of first asylum applications, first instance decisions and pending cases in the EU.

On 15 June 2016, the European Commission reports on progress made in the implementation of the EU-Turkey Statement, adopted a progress report on the relocation and resettlement schemes, adopted its second recommendation identifying steps to restore Dublin transfers to Greece

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.

The Commission finds that good progress has been made to implement the EU-Turkey Statement.

The News Release covers main trends on first and final instance decisions on applications for international protection and on Resettled persons, for the complete 2015 year, in the EU28+ EFTA region.

The EU and Turkey have found an agreement in order to end irregular migration from Turkey to the EU.

This Eurostat News Release covers main trends on first time asylum applicants and on pending asylum applicants for the complete 2015 year in the EU28+ EFTA region.

The Justice and Home Affairs Council of 25/02/2016 discussed the current migratory situation, including the monitoring of implementation of the measures already agreed at recent meetings of the European Council and Justice and Home Affairs Council.

As of January 2016, the monthly statistics published by the CGRS refer to the number of persons and no longer to the number of asylum cases. In this way, the Belgian statistics conform to the definitions used by European agencies such as Eurostat and EASO.

For the first time in Europe, Fedasil and IOM organized on Monday 1st February 2016 a chartered flight to Baghdad for the voluntary return of 106 persons to Iraq.

This EASO newsletter provides information on the election of new executive director José Carreira (PT) and chairman Wolfgang Taucher (AT) of the EASO managment board.

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.