On Tuesday 10 June, in a working party, the Polish Presidency of the EU Council launched discussions with Member States on solidarity contributions, particularly financial contributions, under the ‘Pact on Migration and Asylum’, while the Commission is due to adopt and present the first European report on asylum and migration by 15 October, with an implementing decision identifying the Member States “under migratory pressure, at risk thereof or facing a significant migratory situation”.
On this occasion, the Commission will present a proposal for a Council implementing act establishing the solidarity pool determining the total annual number of solidarity contributions required in the form of relocations and financial contributions.
In June 2025 will see the start of the first ‘annual migration management cycle’, as provided for in the ‘Pact’ adopted in spring 2024 and a Commission Communication of 12 June 2024 (see EUROPE 13430/3).
This Communication stipulated that the Commission should endeavour, “by 12 June 2025 (...) to adopt the implementing acts replacing the Dublin Implementing Rules (...) the delegated acts required by the Asylum Migration Management Regulation (...) the two implementing acts foreseen in relation to solidarity (for relocation and financial contributions respectively)”.
To this end, the European Commission is expected to communicate on the ‘Pact’ on Wednesday 11 June.
At this stage, almost all Member States have submitted their national implementation plans, with the exception of two Member States, according to the latest assessment. Ireland, Poland and Hungary were missing at the beginning of 2025, but Dublin submitted its plan in March, according to a source, with the plan having been delayed by changes in government.
In any case, on Tuesday 10 June, the Presidency was due to return to the operation of the financial and alternative contributions and ask Member States to outline the main difficulties anticipated.
As a reminder, in terms of method, the Commission’s proposal will determine the indicative contributions for each Member State by applying a reference key (GDP and population size); the commitments will be made within the framework of the High-Level Solidarity Forum and, before the end of the year, the Council will be required to adopt an implementing act establishing the solidarity pool, which will be made up of the Member States’ solidarity contributions.
Member States will be free to choose between different types of solidarity measures: relocations (of asylum seekers), financial contributions, alternative measures or a combination of these.
The financial contributions are mainly intended to support actions carried out in the beneficiary Member States in the areas of migration, reception, asylum, pre-departure reintegration, border management and operational support.
However, they may also be used “for projects in or in relation to third countries that might have a direct impact on the migratory flows at the external borders or improve the asylum and migration situation in the third country concerned”, explains a working paper.
The contributions will consist of financial transfers to the EU budget and will be collected from the contributing Member States at the beginning of the year (in the first quarter) following each annual solidarity cycle. They will then be transferred to the beneficiary Member States, which will have to amend their national programmes for the European funds concerned.
Contributing Member States may also provide alternative solidarity measures (capacity building, technical equipment, operational or staff support). These will be monetised in order to calculate the solidarity contributions, and their financial value will need to be agreed between the contributing and benefitting Member States in a realistic manner.
Contributing Member States wishing to commit themselves to financial contributions or to alternative measures should be prepared to allocate in their annual budgets the amounts covering all the contributions foreseen, as well as the possible increases.
Temporary protection for Ukrainians. On 6 June, national delegations also discussed in a working group the first draft compromise on the proposal to extend temporary protection for Ukrainian refugees in the EU by one year (see EUROPE 13653/21).
A new recital has been added, stating that “in that overall context, nothing should be construed as implying an obligation for a Member State to issue a residence permit for temporary protection to a person who received a residence permit for temporary protection in another Member State”.
According to a diplomatic source, this proposal to extend the temporary protection status of 4.4 million Ukrainians in the EU until March 2027 is expected to be approved “without difficulty” on 13 June at the Justice and Home Affairs Council. (Original version in French by Solenn Paulic)