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Deportation and readmission

Outgoing Polish presidency urges “every effort” to speed up deportations /// Member states comment on proposed deportation law /// EU doubling down on “reintegration” programmes /// Launch date for Entry/Exit System announced

Outgoing Polish presidency urges “every effort” to speed up deportations

A paper sent from the Polish presidency of the Council of the EU on 10 June (pdf) urges swift negotiations on the proposed deportation Regulation and increased readmission cooperation with third countries.

“Achieving an effective return policy continues to be high on our political agenda”, reads the paper. It argues that despite “positive” developments in the last five years, “the number of effective returns remains unsatisfactory”.

The Presidency urges that “every effort” is made to rapidly implement the incoming deportation Regulation, and says the then-incoming Danish presidency shares its ambition to start negations with the Parliament by the end of 2025. Cooperation with third countries is highlighted as “particularly important” for speeding up returns.

The paper discusses how visa agreements can be used to exert leverage, and recommends ways to improve the mechanism and expand its use. It notes trade policy as another potential leverage mechanism.

Member states comment on proposed deportation law

Member states’ comments and drafting proposals (pdf) for the new deportation Regulation were circulated within the Council following a meeting of the Working Party on Integration, Migration and Expulsion (IMEX) on 13-14 May.

Most member states welcomed the proposal and described is as a “good basis” though many amendments were suggested. Notable comments include:

• Greece welcomes the “permissive approach taken by the Commission with regards to return hubs”;
• Denmark complains some mechanisms in the proposal will increase administrative burdens on member states;
• Belgium argues for more efficiency by making it possible to blur the lines between voluntary return and removal, and delaying non-refoulement assessments in the removal process;
• Cyprus says it is “imperative” that member states be given flexibility to continue with national deportation practices “that have been proven successful”.

The document will continue to be worked on at the 4 September IMEX working party meeting (pdf). This will be accompanied by the Commission presenting its assessment of third countries’ level of cooperation on readmissions in 2024.

EU doubling down on “reintegration” programmes

A Danish presidency paper offers a lengthy explanation of why so-called voluntary return and reintegration programmes are a key part of Europe’s future deportation ambitions, particularly in preventing “re-migration,” and notes an uptick in such returns in recent years.

The paper (pdf) also praises:

…the effectiveness of the EU’s initial investment in a route-based approach to migration management, which prioritize(s) return and reintegration support in key transit and host countries, thus potentially reducing the number of returns from Europe by addressing return and reintegration needs earlier along the migration route.

This route-based approach – having people deported before they can even reach Europe – is identified as a priority for the EU’s external migration policy.

Concluding that stronger capacity for readmission and reintegration in origin, transit and host countries is needed, the paper notes a “resource gap” in EU funding. It invites delegations to consider how and to what extent EU resources should be used to enhance “capacity and ownership” of readmission and reintegration programmes around Africa.

The paper includes a summary of EU-funded programmes to manage reintegration in Sub-Saharan Africa.

• Active programmes
  • “Support, Mobility, Integration, and Awareness-Raising” (AMIS), Guinea
    • Run by Belgian federal development agency Enabel and French state-owned Expertise France
    • €12.7m, December 2024 to December 2028
    • Offers “economic opportunities and psychosocial services” and supports local reintegration governance
  • “Sustainable Reintegration of returning migrants in Ivory Coast and fight against trafficking” (MIGRET)
    • Run by Expertise France, Enabel and the International Organisation for Migration (IOM)
    • €4m, July 2024-June 2027
    • The project will be “complemented by an upcoming action” funded by the EU’s Flexible Mechanism
  • “A Ghanaian-European safe and prosperous people’s mobility project on migration governance”
    • Run by the IOM
    • €2.9m, launched in March 2025
    • Aims to stablish a “National Referral Mechanism” for people to access training and community-based projects, as well as strengthening “stakeholders' capacities, mental health and psychosocial support (MHPSS) and the decentralization of return and reintegration”
  • Support to Migration Governance in Nigeria
    • Implemented by the IOM
    • Launched in June 2025 and to run around four years
    • Addresses reintegration but also counter-migration measures in general, including training of judicial and police authorities
  • Improving Cameroon’s Migration Management Capacity and Cooperation
    • Implemented by IOM and German development agency GIZ
    • Previously mentioned in the MOCADEM meeting of 27 July 2023
• Pending programmes
  • “Managing migration better in Western Africa”
    • An individual measure with a budget of €100m via the EU’s NDICI
    • Targeting Chad, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Guinea, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and The Gambia
    • The project has both reintegration and counter-migration aims and appears to still be in development.

Launch date for Entry/Exit System announced

The EU’s Entry/Exit System (EES), a biometric border crossing database long beset by technical delays, will launch on 12 October 2025. Member states will have six months to introduce the system, which will collect non-EU citizens’ fingerprints and photographs.

The system, which replaces passport stamps, will check whether someone crossing a border has a valid visa and has not exhausted the number of entries or length of stay permitted.

One of the main aims of the system is to systematically detect visa overstayers and “prevent irregular migration and help protect the security of European citizens.”

A Commission impact assessment previously estimated the system will allow an increase of 33% in the number of deportation orders enforced five years from the system’s launch.