The European Commission has launched its second Annual Migration Management Cycle, setting out its latest assessment of migration and asylum trends across the EU and naming countries it says are under migratory pressure.
The cycle is part of the EU’s Pact on Migration and Asylum and includes an annual report on the overall situation, a Commission decision on the level of pressure in each member state, and a proposal for an “Annual Solidarity Pool,” the Commission noted in a statement on Friday.
The Annual Solidarity Pool is a mechanism under which countries can support those facing higher demands through relocations, financial contributions or other measures.
Illegal border crossings have “more than halved” over the past two years and fell by “more than a third” again in the first six months of this year, according to the Commission’s second European Annual Asylum and Migration Report.
Unauthorised movements fell by 22% in 2025 and asylum applications by 19% in 2025, while the EU-wide return rate has risen to more than 30%.
The Commission said the Pact has been fully in application since June, with the updated Eurodac system now operational across all member states; Eurodac is the EU database used to compare fingerprints to help manage asylum claims and track irregular migration.
One third of registered asylum applications have been processed under accelerated or border procedures since the Pact began applying.
Greece, Cyprus, Italy and Spain named as under “migratory pressure”
Greece and Cyprus are under “migratory pressure” due to what the Commission described as a disproportionate level of arrivals over the past year.
Italy was also classified as under pressure because of a disproportionate number of arrivals following search and rescue at sea, while Spain was listed as under pressure in light of the overall situation and an incident in Ceuta.
Those four countries will be eligible to access the Solidarity Pool, subject to continued application of the Pact’s “responsibility rules” on which state handles asylum applications.
Italy has made progress in applying those rules but needs to do more, the Commission said.
Belgium, Czechia, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, France, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Finland were assessed as at risk of migratory pressure, due to factors including relatively high illegal arrivals, unauthorised secondary movements, asylum applications, temporary protection granted to people fleeing Russia’s war against Ukraine, or the risk of “weaponisation of migration.”
Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Croatia, Austria and Poland were found to face a “significant migratory situation” because of the cumulative effect of migration over the past five years, and can ask the Council to grant a full or partial deduction from their contributions to the Solidarity Pool for the coming year.
The Commission has proposed that the Council establish a Solidarity Pool for 2027, but said the proposal is not public under the Pact’s rules. It will be for the Council to decide the size of the pool and how each member state contributes, with contributions becoming public and legally binding after adoption.
A fair approach across the EU requires “both solidarity and responsibility”, Henna Virkkunen, the Commission’s Executive Vice-President for Tech Sovereignty, Security and Democracy, said.
Illegal migration is continuing to decline and the EU now has “more control over who can come to Europe, who can stay, and who needs to leave”, Internal Affairs and Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner declared in the Commission’s statement.
