Overview

• At the Zugspitze summit, six EU interior ministers joined Commissioner Magnus Brunner to back tougher external border checks and faster return procedures.
• The Commission’s return regulation proposal would abolish the ‘connection element’ and set up return centres in third countries to coordinate removals with EU agencies.
• Frontex is poised for a massive expansion to strengthen surveillance, patrols and deportations along Europe’s external frontiers.
• Germany’s temporary controls at its border with Poland received EU approval on the condition that they remain strictly time-limited.
• Green Party and refugee groups warned that the expedited returns and reduced safeguards risk deepening humanitarian harm for asylum seekers.