On the occasion of the Justice and Home Affairs Council on 9 November 2015, Ministers discussed progress made in implementing the most recent EU measures and decided on a number of further measures to handle the refugee and migration crisis as set out in a set of conclusions adopted by the Council (see below). Among other conclusions, it was decided to sustantially increase reception capacities, to intensify the establishment of hotspots in Italy and Greece, to speed up the relocation process, to explore the concept of processing centres in countries where the hotspot approach hasn't been implemented, to pursue contingency planning of humanitarian assistance for the Western Balkans in light of the apporaching winter, to regain controls of the external borders, to accelerate the establishment of the European Migrant Smuggling Centre (EMSC) and to set up a network of single operational contact points on migrant smuggling and to achieve practical results on return and readmission.

The Council also expressed support in its conclusions for the decision of the Presidency to upgrade the activation of the Integrated Political Crisis Response (IPCR) from information-sharing to full activation mode.

The Council took note of the concept paper on the deployment of European Migration Liaison Officers (EMLOs). It should be deployed as a metter of priority to Ethiopia, Niger, Pakistan and Serbia by the end of January 2016.

The Council confirmed the agreement on the Joint Declaration on a Common Agenda on Migration and Mobility between Ethiopia and the European Union and its member states, to be signed on 11 November 2015 in the margins of the Valletta Summit on migration.

The Council endorsed the text of the draft Joint Declaration establishing a Mobility Partnership between the Republic of Lebanon and the European Union and its participating member states, with a view to submitting it to the Lebanese authorities and starting negotiations.

For further information, please read the outcome of the Council meeting (below).
You can also visit the website of the Council of the European Union.