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Council of Europe’s ‘Political Declaration’ on migration /// EU Digital Travel application /// The Future of Europol /// EU-Ukraine Frontex discussions

European Commission to guide the Council of Europe’s ‘Political Declaration’ on migration

A summary of discussions (pdf) at the Justice and Home Affairs Council (JHA) meeting of 4 February shows the Commission’s plan to represent the EU in forthcoming negotiations for a “Political Declaration on migration issues” from the Council of Europe.

While the technical details of the Commission’s involvement in drafting the declaration are hardly interesting, the note offers a suggestion of what to expect in the declaration itself (in the words of the discussion summary):

• expulsions of foreign nationals convicted of serious crimes

• mass arrivals of migrants

• instrumentalisation

• decision-making in migration cases

• ‘innovative solutions’ (such as the recent ‘place of safety’ discussions)

An accompanying note (pdf) goes into more details of the technical process. The full declaration is expected to be adopted around mid-May 2026.

Presidency compromise draft on EU Digital Travel application

On 1 October 2025, the then-Danish presidency of the Council of the EU circulated its latest compromise proposal (pdf) for the EU Digital Travel application legislation. The majority of the amendments appear to be fine-tuning without substantive changes. The full draft with all amendments tracked is on the Statewatch site.

Regarding digital border systems, Statewatch has also published:

• a presentation (pdf) from the Council to the Working Party on Frontiers meeting of 1 September 2025, with an update on automated border checks under the Entry/Exit System

• a presentation (pdf) from the EU’s IT department eu-LISA to the WPF meeting on 7 October 2025 on “Digital border solutions regulated by the EU: status, timelines and interdependencies”

The Future of Europol: member states look to greater data sharing

Ahead of an expected review of Europol’s mandate, the Cypriot presidency has produced a paper on the future of the agency, to inform ongoing discussions in the Council. The document (pdf), circulated on 12 February 2026 suggests discussions focus on four key themes:

• Data processing and information exchange

• Cooperation with other EU agencies, bodies and third parties

• Dealing with hybrid threats (in this context, this refers more to such threats as sabotage, information manipulation and election interference rather than migration instrumentalisation)

• Governance

Overall, the document shows an appetite for Europol to serve more as a “central hub for the exchange and analysis of information”, particularly regarding cross-border threats. There also appears to be appetite for “enhancing Europol’s capabilities to cooperate with the private sector”, with financial institutions cited as an example.

While the Future of Europol document does not invoke migration specifically, the upcoming mandate review will likely affect migration policing, particularly in light of the ProtectEU internal security strategy. The matter is to be discussed further at the JHA Council meeting on 5 March 2026.

A clearer picture of EU-Ukraine Frontex discussions

A redacted document published in the previous Outsourcing Borders bulletin showed that the Ukraine and EU have begun negotiations on a potential Frontex status agreement and potential deployment of Frontex officers in Ukraine.

The full document (pdf) has now been obtained by Statewatch. It reveals that technical discussions began between Ukraine and the Commission in April 2023, and Ukrainian border guards’ military obligations are a main driver of the interest in Frontex deployment. The Commission is reported to have underlined that actual deployment of Frontex staff is contingent on assessments of the security situation. The unredacted note also reveals that the formal request for negotiations on a status agreement came from the Ukrainian Minister of Internal Affairs on 25 July 2025.

The note concludes by urging caution on when to submit a formal recommendation for a Council decision, and invites member states to comment on how they feel about a Frontex-Ukraine agreement. Notably, a question to member states which had been deleted, asks:

“For Member States preferring to defer the initiation of negotiations, what would need to happen for you to support authorising negotiation?”