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.

Today the Commission proposes a new Emergency Assistance Instrument for faster crisis response within the EU.

Today, the Commission confirmed that Greece is in the process of returning 308 irregular migrants to Turkey, as the EU steps up its efforts to ensure that those who do not qualify for international protection will be quickly and effectively returned to their countries of origin or transit.

Today 27 February, numerous platforms and citizens came together for a European March in more than hundred cities in 28 countries, including Brussels where 3000 persons expressed support for the initiative.

Today, the Belgian government approved the plan for the distribution of asylum seekers over the different municipalities of the Kingdom. It will enter into force on 1 May 2016.

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.

Today Interior Minister Jan Jambon announced the Belgian government's decision to patrol the border with France until 23 March 2016, alleging a surge in arrivals caused by the closure of the refugee camp known as the "Jungle" in Calais.

Today Europol launched the new European Migrant Smuggling Center (EMSC) to pro-actively support EU Member States in dismantling criminal networks involved in organized migrant smuggling.

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.

In the framework of the PONT project TEPSA (Trans European Policy Studies Association) is organising a ‘Working Europe’ Seminar on EU Asylum and Migration policies, which will take place in Brussels on 4-8 April 2016.

On 15th February, a new vaccination campaign has been launched for newly arrived asylum seekers.

The Labour Market Observatory (LMO) of the European Economic and Social Committee is holding a public seminar on “Integrating refugees into the labour market: turning the crisis into an opportunity”.

Belgium pledged 75 million EUR to be spent on humanitarian aid in Syria, Jordan, Lebanon and Turkey. The aid will mostly be dedicated to initiatives encouraging refugees to stay in their region of origin and providing dignified living conditions.

The colloquium has selected experts from different backgrounds such as academic, public administration, non-governmental and international organisations, press, medical, etc. to discuss the vulnerability of women in their migration process.

The Royal Academy of Belgium organizes several short conferences on the topic of Europe and the current migration challenges it faces (in February and March 2016).

During this event integration and civic integration ("Inburgering") are being quantitatively and qualitatively brought to light and examined in several specific fields: education, living conditions, labour market, entrepreneurship and rights.

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.