Increase expulsions, overhaul the visa system: the European Union on Thursday unveiled the main lines of its future migration policy, confirming a clear hardening of its stance.
Stefano RELLANDINI / AFP)
Brussels – “The priority is clear: to reduce the number of illegal arrivals and keep them at a low level,” assured European Commissioner Magnus Brunner, the main architect of this migration shift.
In 2025, the number of irregular entries into European territory fell by more than 25%, according to the European border guard agency Frontex. They have plummeted on the Balkan route and are now concentrated in the Mediterranean, particularly from Libya.
But Europe’s political center of gravity has shifted to the right, pushing its leaders to tighten the screws further on immigration.
In its migration strategy, which is to guide its work for the next five years, the Commission is focusing on the deportation of rejected asylum seekers.
The European Parliament is currently examining a text drafted by Brussels. It would in particular make it possible to open centers outside the EU, the famous “return hubs,” to which migrants whose asylum applications have been rejected would be sent. But also to impose tougher penalties on migrants who refuse to leave European territory. (29 January 2026)
