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Member states squabble with Commission over deportation statistics /// Far-right MEPs question migration commissioner’s commitment to deportations /// MEPs demand transparency over the role of the ‘Khartoum Process’ in Sudan’s civil war /// Development committee to vote on keeping humanitarian aid funds out of external instrument /// EU-Kazakhstan meeting discusses readmissions cooperation /// Commission unveils “Military Schengen” and further plans to combine defence and tech

Member states squabble with Commission over deportation statistics

A presidency discussion paper (pdf) circulated on 8 October 2025 addresses the issue of statistics member states are obliged to provide to Eurostat or Frontex under the upcoming deportation regulation.

Member states would, in the current draft, be required to report, every three months: the number of people subject to recognised return decisions issued by another member state; and the number of people subject to pre-deportation detention or alternative measures to detention.

Member states are also expected to submit monthly statistics on readmission applications, requests for nationality information and travel documents, and the number of people in ‘reintegration’ programmes. These latter statistics are considered important for assessing third-countries’ cooperation with deportations.

Member states are apparently displeased with these requirements, feeling them overly burdensome.

The presidency – noting that if statistics requirements are not included in the regulation they might end up under the control of the Statistics Working Party - invited delegates at an October meeting of the JHA Counsellors to discuss what requirements member states would find acceptable.

Far-right MEPs question migration commissioner’s commitment to deportations

A priority written question to the Commission from MEPs Mary Khan (Germany, AfD/ESN) and Petra Steger (Austria, FPÖ/PfE) questions whether Commissioner Magnus Brunner is sincere in his stated desire to use trade, visa policy and development aid as leverage over third countries for increased deportations.

While welcoming Brunner’s stated desire to use these tools, the two MEPs express concern that commensurate provisions are absent in the draft deportation regulation. They ask the Commissioner to explain the discrepancy and state clearly how the Commission plans “to ensure that trade, visa policy and development aid are used as effective tools to enforce returns”.

MEPs demand transparency over the role of the ‘Khartoum Process’ in Sudan’s civil war

Swedish MEPs Jonas Sjöstedt and Hanna Gedin, both with The Left, have written to the Commission highlighting allegations that some of the €200m provided to Sudan for ‘migration management’, from 2014 onwards under the Khartoum Process, was channelled to the Rapid Support Forces – one side in Sudan’s brutal civil war and credibly accused of genocide in Darfur. The MEPs ask the Commission to explain what steps it has taken to investigate this allegation, and whether any wider review is planned into irregularities in the management of Khartoum Process funds. More broadly, the MEPs ask what the Commission thinks are “the consequences of EU funds being channelled to an armed group such as the RSF”.

For a thorough refresher on the Khartoum Process, see journalist Caitlin Chandler’s long-read for The New Humanitarian in 2018.

(Both the above parliamentary questions were unanswered at the time of this bulletin.)

Development committee to vote on keeping humanitarian aid funds out of external instrument

On 2 December, MEPs in the development committee will vote to adopt a draft report on humanitarian aid. Amid its various provisions, the report (from Spanish S&D rapporteur Leire Pajín) urges the Commission “to maintain separate budget lines and instruments for humanitarian aid […] and to oppose any attempts to merge the EU Humanitarian Aid Instrument with the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI) – Global Europe”. The report also urges that flexible aid mechanisms in the EU’s next budget don’t “come at the expense of its neutrality”.

EU-Kazakhstan meeting discusses readmissions cooperation

The Cooperation Council between the European Union and Kazakhstan held a meeting in Brussels on 1 December. Among the items for discussion was “readmission and visa facilitation”. Kazakhstan, along with other Central Asian countries, is emerging as an area of interest for the EU regarding irregular migration. A presentation from the EU’s externalisation partner the ICMPD to the EMWP working group on 14 May 2025 warned of increasing irregular migration to the EU from the region.

Commission unveils “Military Schengen” and further plans to combine defence and tech

The Commission has announced a new regulation to allow greater mobility around Europe – for guns, tanks and troops. The ‘Military Schengen’ plan (which is how the Commission itself describes it) smooths internal permit and customs procedures “to make it easier for troops, equipment and military assets to move quickly and smoothly across Europe”.

The plans are notable, from an externalisation point of view, given the numerous references to cross-border investment into dual-use technologies, as well as contracts for the tech sector to develop the next generation of defence-tech – much of which may be deployed in migration contexts. The new regulation is to be presented during this legislative cycle, with an ambition for ‘Military Schengen’ to be in place by 2027.