At last week’s Justice and Home Affairs Council, EU interior ministers agreed to tighten migration rules, strengthen border controls and speed up returns. Their measures include a shared return-order form, emergency arrangements for periods of high migratory pressure, and plans for facilities outside the EU to hold people without the right to remain until deportation.
A shared return order
Member states introduced a European Return Order, a standardised form that records key elements of a return decision. National authorities are meant to use it to recognise return decisions made by other member states. The proposal addresses how officials record those decisions and recognise them across national systems.
Recognition will initially remain voluntary. Member states aren't yet required to accept one another’s return decisions under the arrangement. The rules are due for reassessment three years after they enter into force. At that point, the Commission could propose legislation to make mutual recognition mandatory.
EU interior ministers and Commissioner Marcus Brunner agreed to focus on stricter border controls and faster returns at the Justice and Home Affairs Council. Those priorities echoed points raised at the Munich Migration Conference on 26 September.
The European Return Order forms one part of the return measures ministers discussed. The proposed approach would make it easier for authorities in another member state to identify the elements of a return decision. Whether recognition stays voluntary or becomes mandatory will be considered after the rules have been in force for three years.
Emergency response and return hubs
The council also discussed the EU’s response to sudden mass arrivals. Events in Ceuta this summer exposed weaknesses in its emergency systems, according to the article. A new European Emergency Response Framework aims to help national authorities react more quickly when migratory pressure is high.
Ministers also called for faster repatriations through “return hubs”. The facilities would sit in non-EU countries, where authorities would transfer people without the right to remain until deportation. That places the detention and deportation stage outside EU territory.
The “Group of Five”—Denmark, Germany, Austria, the Netherlands and Greece—is leading efforts to secure agreements with third countries. Its stated aim is to have the first return hubs operational in 2027. The article doesn't name the countries where the hubs would be located or describe the conditions people would face there.
More funding for border technology
Other measures include strengthening “migration diplomacy” with third countries to curb irregular migration before it reaches EU borders. Ministers also backed new technologies to improve border protection.
The €250 million Drone Action plan will get an additional €130 million. The article doesn't specify how officials will allocate the additional funding or identify the technologies they would deploy. It presents these border and return measures through the Euronews AI chatbot.