The European Commission presented, on Wednesday 18 October, on the eve of the meeting of EU interior ministers, a package of communications and legislation covering both internal security and migration, including a long-awaited action plan on the Eastern Mediterranean route, i.e. on migratory flows from Turkey.
As an emblematic proposal, already announced last March, the Commission also proposed on Wednesday to review the Visa Suspension Mechanism for visa-free regimes, which are sometimes misused to lodge unfounded asylum applications.
On the same day, the Commission submitted also an action plan against drug trafficking to the Member States and presented a new alliance of European ports to fight drug trafficking. Lastly, the Commission also put forward a communication on civil drones and how to protect the public against their misuse.
Two days after the attack in Brussels that claimed the lives of two Swedish tourists, the Commission wanted to show ministers that it takes the security of Europeans very seriously. The Vice-President responsible for Promoting the European Way of Life, Margarítis Schinás, called on the Member States to fully implement the internal security acquis, which already comprises 36 initiatives under this mandate, and to leave no stone unturned.
To this end, he announced that he had written to the EU’s ministers of European affairs asking them to ensure that the European legislation adopted was fully implemented.
Among the wide-ranging proposals on the table, the Action Plan to Fight Drug Trafficking proposes 17 actions in four targeted areas, while the number of cocaine seizures in the EU are reaching record levels, with 303 tonnes in 2021 alone.
The first area concerns a new European Ports Alliance to increase the resilience of ports against criminal infiltration by reinforcing the work of customs authorities, law enforcement and public and private actors in the ports across the EU, for example, through state-of-the-art scanning and equipment. The second area is the dismantling of high-risk criminal networks by facilitating financial and digital investigations, mapping the biggest criminal networks, reinforcing cooperation between specialised prosecutors and judges, and making use of the Schengen Information System (SIS) alerts. The third concerns measures to prevent organised crime through exchange of best practices and guidance among Member States to prevent infiltration of these groups into the society and legal economy, prevent criminal groups to recruit youngsters and improve public safety and health, and to limit more effectively access to drug precursors. The last area covers working with international partners, following the example of the action plans put in place with the countries of Central and Latin America.
Visa-free regimes. With regard to the suspension of the visa-free regimes currently granted to 60 countries worldwide, the Commission, as announced earlier this year (see EUROPE 13138/5), submitted a new proposal to revise the mechanism for suspending the granting of so-called visa-free regimes in order to incorporate new grounds for suspension, such as hybrid threats (instrumentalisation of migration), the lack of alignment of third countries with the EU in terms of visa policy or the risks posed by so-called investor citizenship schemes that could pose potential security risks in the EU.
In May, the Commission explained in a communication that “a number of third countries exempt from the visa requirement are currently being closely monitored because of the risks posed by their investor citizenship programmes or their plans to set up such programmes. These include Albania, North Macedonia and Montenegro, as well as Vanuatu and certain Caribbean countries”.
In March, Commissioner Johansson explained that it was “time to review” this suspension mechanism given that 20% of asylum applications lodged in the EU are made by people benefiting from these visa-free regimes and who, according to her, “abuse this system”.
Another amendment concerns the thresholds taken into account for suspending a visa-free regime in the event of a substantial increase in irregular migration, unfounded asylum applications or serious criminal offences relating to nationals of that third country. The Commission should assess whether there are particular circumstances, in the cases notified by the Member States or as part of its own analysis, which would justify the application of lower or higher thresholds than those indicated in the regulation.
Drones. The Communication sets out six specific activities for the successful implementation of an EU policy on UAVs: - sharing best practice and information; - exploring regulatory measures by identifying regulatory needs and the potential for harmonising laws and procedures across the EU; - assisting Member States in choosing from a variety of commercial cyber and non-cyber-counter-drone technologies available on the market; - offering practical guidance and operational support to Member States by extending existing counter-drone training, for example, to the private security sector and law enforcement authorities; - reinforcing research and innovation through available budget programmes such as Horizon Europe; - increasing funding support through the launch of the call for proposals on counter-drone solutions under the Internal Security Fund thematic facility work programmes for 2026-2027.
The rapidly advancing capabilities of drones represent a growing security risk. In recent years, there have been plans to try to use drones for terrorist attacks, writes the Commission in its communication. Suspect drones have also been spotted around critical infrastructure, such as energy installations, airports and ports, indicating that the drones could be used for hostile purposes. They are also used by criminals for smuggling and drug trafficking.
Today, most drones designed for civilian purposes can be detected and identified, but it remains very difficult to intercept or neutralise them (i.e. to take control of them, land them safely or shoot them down), often due to the lack of legal authorisation. “This is particularly true for private operators of critical infrastructures. The fight against threats posed by drones should therefore be taken into account in future risk assessments under the Critical Entities Resilience Directive”, the Commission writes.
Eastern Mediterranean. Following on from the action plans for the Central and Western Mediterranean, this new action plan for Turkey presents 29 targeted operational measures, focusing on four main areas says a press release: “preventing irregular departures; combating migrant smuggling and providing legal migration pathways by strengthening cooperation with countries of origin and transit in Asia and Africa as well as with Turkey to counter migrant smuggling; reinforcing effective border management along the eastern Mediterranean route, including in countries of origin and transit, by supporting border management capacities on Turkey’s eastern borders; strengthening cooperation on returns and readmissions with countries of origin and transit by continuing, here too, the dialogue with Turkey in order to promote the full and effective implementation of the EU-Turkey Statement and the EU-Turkey readmission agreement; finally, ensuring effective migration management, improve asylum procedures and support the establishment of sufficient reception capacities by helping Member States to provide adequate reception capacities for children and adults”.
Links to documents: https://aeur.eu/f/94g; https://aeur.eu/f/94h; https://aeur.eu/f/94i; https://aeur.eu/f/94j (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)