European Migration Network launches Annual Report on Migration and Asylum for 2019

The EMN Annual Report provides a comprehensive overview of the migration and asylum situation and developments in the EU (Member) States as well as statistical data for the year 2019, which were available at the time of the publication of the report. Topics cover legal migration, international protection; unaccompanied minors and vulnerable groups; integration; citizenship and statelessness; borders, visa and Schengen governance; illegal migration including smuggling; return and readmission; human trafficking and migration and development.

The year saw a number of important developments across the EU, notably the 9th European Parliament Elections, returning again the highest number of seats to the European People’s Party, the appointment of a new European Commission, and the finalisation of negotiations on the departure from the European Union of the United Kingdom, which took place on 31 January 2020. These developments formed the backdrop to developments at EU and national level specifically related to asylum and migration.

The European Agenda on Migration continued to provide the framework to the EU’s policy approach in 2019. In July 2019, to overcome the difficult negotiation processof the 2016 Common European Asylum System (CEAS) package, the European Commission’s President-designate von der Leyen announced the development of a New Pact on Migration and Asylum, which is to provide a comprehensive approach to migration and asylum to be implemented over the lifetime of the new Commission, covering all aspects including external borders, systems for asylum and return, the Schengen area of free movement, creating legal pathways for migration, and working with partners outside the EU.

Negotiations continued throughout 2019 on the reform of the Common European Asylum System. Significant legal instruments were also adopted including the updated European Border and Coast Guard Regulation (2019/1896) and two Interoperability Regulations (2019/817 and 2019/818) which provide for an interoperability framework between EU information systems respectively in the field of border and visas as well as in the field of police and judicial cooperation, asylum and migration.

Full report can be downloaded at https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/sites/homeaffairs/files/00_eu_arm2019_synthesis_report_final_en.pdf