Overview
- The European Commission requested a short delay of its legally mandated list of countries under migratory pressure, saying it needs a couple of days to refine the methodology for this first test.
- Interior ministers meeting in Luxembourg signaled they prefer financial contributions over accepting relocated asylum seekers, with Poland, Austria, Belgium, Sweden, Finland and the Netherlands rejecting intake.
- The solidarity mechanism requires governments to either relocate people from pressured states or pay €20,000 per person, with the scheme intended to cover at least 30,000 asylum seekers annually.
- Separately, ministers debated tougher return measures, including proposed "return hubs" outside EU borders and longer detention for those refusing to leave, but key divisions persist.
- France opposes mutual recognition of expulsion decisions and frontline states such as Italy and Greece are expected recipients, even as data show they accepted only a tiny fraction of Dublin readmission requests in 2024.