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Preparing for the Pact: Presidency urges member states to make sure they can keep asylum seekers where they are // Preparing for the Pact: Screening and unaccompanied minor procedures // Artificial Intelligence and EU border control // Frontex updates on border control status, touts its own ‘added value’ // EU presents long-awaited ‘first-ever’ Visa Strategy // EUAA updates on asylum digitalisation, unaccompanied minors and age assessments under the new Pact // Presentation on internal security strategy hints at further intensifying of border control

Preparing for the Pact: Presidency urges member states to make sure they can keep asylum seekers where they are

Two documents outline the EU’s desire that under the incoming Pact on Migration and Asylum, irregular migrants are effectively kept in one place, to prevent secondary movement and to make sure they are on-hand for removal at any time.

The first, a presidency discussion document (pdf) emphasises the need to make sure member states’ asylum reception capacities are sufficient ahead of the implementation of the Pact. In particular, the paper impresses on delegates the need to ensure sufficient capacity to keep asylum seekers where they are:

“Preparedness is essential not only to uphold humanitarian and legal obligations but also to maintain public confidence in asylum systems and to contribute to preventing secondary movements which can partly be driven by disparities in reception conditions”

This paper also discusses the various efforts around Europe to prepare for the new Pact, and invites delegates to comment on their own reception, contingency planning and monitoring capacities.

The second discussion paper (pdf) focusses on keeping irregular migrants physically available during the asylum procedure and for deportation once they become subject to the return border procedure.

The paper urges member states to transpose the relevant EU legislations into their own law, making particular mention of those covering detention grounds. (Statewatch has previously analysed the relevant Union-level proposals regarding expanded detention powers).

It also reminds member states of the need to make sure their courts are equipped to quickly process review of deportation orders, “particularly in order to respect the strict timelines for judicial review”.

The note also reminds member states of the existence of a policy “toolbox” for keeping people to hand during asylum and deportation procedures, including measures for restrictions of freedom of movement, alternatives to detention and detention.

It also suggests ways to review and tweak the new asylum and return systems once they are underway and mentions individual member states’ border procedure pilot projects (though it does not say which states).

Preparing for the Pact: Screening and unaccompanied minor procedures

Two further discussion documents addressed to the Asylum Working Party explore the new screening procedures under the Pact, as well as age assessment and processing of unaccompanied minors.

The discussion document regarding screening (pdf) sets out timelines and general procedures, including ID verification and registration in the Eurodac system (at which point someone may be deemed automatically ineligible for asylum), as well as health and other checks.

The discussion document regarding age assessments and unaccompanied minors (pdf) describes an undefined ‘multidisciplinary assessment’ to be carried out in the first instance, followed by a medical examination if doubt remains. While reminding delegates that the subject should be ‘presumed a child’ during the process, the document’s language appears to leave room for potential children to be detained during the age assessment process.

Artificial Intelligence and EU border control: here we go

Another discussion document (pdf), addressed to the Strategic Committee on Immigration, Frontiers and Asylum (SCIFA), explores the various ways AI can be used in a border context:

“AI technologies have the potential to significantly enhance the ability of authorities to manage growing operational demands, improve situational awareness, and strengthen efficiency and consistency of administrative processes”

The document describes existing member state efforts to explore the use of AI in a border context, including:

• “improving the quality of consistency and timeliness of decision-making”;

• processing data-sets and predicting migration trends;

• verification of ID and travel documents and detecting irregularities; and

• information extraction and qualitative case-file analysis to inform decision-making.

It also suggests other areas AI could be used, including:

• counter-smuggling activities;

• search and rescue;

• ‘streamlining’ border processes;

• risk analysis and oversight of external borders;

• interpretation, translation and transcription in asylum processes; and

• collecting information related to countries of origin.

Frontex updates on border control status, touts its own ‘added value’

The 2025 ‘Frontex Vulnerability Assessment’, obtained by Statewatch, gives member states updates on the overall status of border control capacities around the EU. In the introduction, and throughout the report itself, the agency takes pains to remind member states of its own value, particularly regarding the possible advent of further ‘hybrid threat’ situations, and of its potential as a steward of greater intelligence sharing between member states and itself.

A full analysis of the document is on the Statewatch site.

EU presents long-awaited ‘first-ever’ Visa Strategy

In a presentation (pdf) to the Visa Working Party meeting of 3 March 2026, the Commission explores the details of its new Visa Strategy. There are little surprises regarding how the EU plans to use its visa regime to garner greater cooperation on migration with third countries. The presentation does, however, lay out some of the explicit benchmarks that may be used in assessing whether a country is sufficiently cooperative, confirming that the EU intends to use the visa mechanism for far more than just deportations. These benchmarks include: “visa refusal rate, unfounded asylum applications, return rate, and practical cooperation on return and readmission, as well as security-linked criteria including cybersecurity and cooperation on counterterrorism, anti-smuggling, and fighting organised crime.”

The presentation also notes the development of Global Europe Regulation Article 12.3 – allowing for external financial spending to be suspended in cases of ‘non-cooperation’ – as well as amendments to trade policy in order to strengthen the overall strategy.

It also notes that visa measures could be used against countries exhibiting ‘hostility’ to the EU, particularly in a ‘hybrid threats’ scenario.

EUAA updates on asylum digitalisation, unaccompanied minors and age assessments under the new Pact

A series of presentations (pdf) from the EUAA updates delegates on the digitalisation of asylum procedures (described as “uneven” and “fragmented”), as well as the procedures for unaccompanied minors and age assessments under the new pact. There are a lot of technical details regarding the system, though it is of little interest from an externalisation perspective.

Presentation on internal security strategy hints at further intensifying of border control

A presentation (pdf) from DG Home to delegates at the working party dealing with hybrid threats lays out how it sees the “EU security landscape”. While not broadly addressing migration per se, the vision outlined hints at the direction policymakers may be going regarding the need for militarised or otherwise more intense control over EU territories. Noting the “blurred lines between hybrid threats and open warfare” as well as a terrorist threat level which “continues to be high”, the strategy document outlines a number of measures to keep up with the threat, including new forms of security governance, greater intelligence sharing, integrated threat analysis and strengthened security capacities “tightening the net” on organised crime.

Notably, the strategy presentation makes explicit reference to “strengthening Frontex” in this context and the expected increase of the standing corps.

A similar note (pdf) regarding drone and counter-drone security similarly references the need to “support Frontex”, in the context of responding to drone threats.