News

The Commission and the OECD published the Indicators of Immigrant Integration - Settling In on 15 June. The report covers over 80 indicators with statistics on living conditions, education, children of migrants, and inclusion into the labour market for a period covering 2010 until 2021. It provides extensive data for practitioners in the field, which identifies progress made and challenges that remain related to integration of migrants and their children.

The Commission adopted a Communication on monitoring the EU's visa-free travel regimes setting out a consultation process. The Communication looks at the functioning of the EU's visa-free regimes and identifies main challenges in the areas of irregular migration and security. The Visa Suspension Mechanism enables a temporary suspension of the visa exemption in case of a sudden and substantial increase in irregular migration or security risks.

The Commission is providing financial support to Bulgaria and Romania in implementing two pilot projects in the areas of asylum, returns, and border management. Bulgaria will receive EUR 45 million and Romania EUR 10,8 million. The funds will be added to the national programmes under the Border Management and Visa Policy (BMVI) home affairs funding.

On 6 June, the Commission proposed new measures to address an increase in misuse of commercial transport by criminal networks that facilitate irregular migration to the EU in particular on airlines. The toolbox aims to ensure that transport operators do not facilitate irregular migration, including through targeted outreach to transport operators.

Home Affairs Ministers took a decisive step towards modernisation of the EU’s rulebook for asylum and migration on 8 June. They agreed on a general position on the Asylum Procedure Regulation and on the Asylum and Migration Management Regulation. This will form the basis for negotiations between the European Parliament and Council.

Latest figures released in May show short term Schengen visa applications reached 7.5 million in the EU- and Schengen Associated Countries, a 258 percent increase in 2022 compared to the previous year. The State of Schengen Report highlighted last year’s achievements: enlargement, governance and border and police cooperation. In mid-June the Commission also welcomed political agreement between the European Parliament and the Council which will allow for the digitalisation of the Schengen visa procedure.

On 6 June, the Commission presented an Action Plan for the Western Mediterranean and Atlantic migration routes. This builds on the already positive relations the EU has with key countries of origin and transit, in full coordination with Member States. The plan proposes cooperation with partner countries, better border management and targeted operational measures to ensure safer, legal, and orderly migration to the EU.

Commissioner Johansson spoke at the 'Let's protect children' event on 1 June on the child sexual abuse legislation proposed by the European Commission. She stressed that internet companies reported 87 million images and videos of child sexual abuse worldwide and at least one in five children experienced some form of sexual violence. The Internet makes the abuse worse. Before the Internet, hundreds of thousands of pedophiles could not meet online to share abuse. The new EU law on fighting child sexual abuse online looks to counter this abuse.

On 3 May 2023, the Commission adopted new anti-corruption measures. This includes a proposal for a new Directive on combating corruption by criminal law. It aims to update EU rules on definitions and penalties for corruption offences to ensure adequate measures against the full range of corruption crimes. The Commission strengthens efforts to integrate the prevention of corruption into the design of EU policies and programmes, and actively supporting Member States’ work to put in place strong anti-corruption policies and legislation.

2022 was a year marked by Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. This forced the displacement of the largest number of people since the second world war. The EU quickly activated the Temporary Protection Directive to welcome displaced people and acted on solidarity offered from all countries. Further updates in the report include the work on migration, security and Schengen.

Catering to the specific interest of Security Research news, the DG HOME Community for European Research and Innovation for Security (CERIS) launched a newsletter on its activities. Topics include future threats to security, new tools for police and border guards as well as the use of artificial intelligence to fight crime and terrorism. Sign up to their newsletter at the link below.

From April 2021 to February 2023, the EU provided EUR 25.3 million under an Emergency Support Instrument to support Greece’s health system during the COVID 19 pandemic. These funds were used specifically for the reception of migrants in Greece.

There are dozens of unofficial ETIAS websites, often pretending to provide official information about the European Union’s upcoming and not yet in practice travel requirements for visa-free nationals, in many languages. Some of the information on these websites related to ETIAS is simply wrong. Many of them illegally use the official EU logo, pretending to be an official EU website, while others already collect travellers’ personal data, which is concerning.

Interoperability, the streamlined technical upgrade of border systems in the EU contributes to a high level of security. Security safeguards put in place improve the effectiveness and efficiency of border checks at external borders and contribute to prevent and combat irregular immigration.

Citizens of Kosovo will be allowed to travel to the EU without a visa, for periods of up to 90 days in any 180-day period. Once this law is in place, the entire Western Balkans region will have a similar visa framework for the Schengen area. The visa exemption will enter into force from January 2024.

On 21 February 2023, the European Commission held a CERIS workshop under the general theme of Fighting Crime and Terrorism (FCT), in Brussels, to discuss the priorities, roadmaps, and best practices of EU-funded security research projects focusing on the fight against Child Sexual Abuse (CSA).

On 2 March 2023, a CERIS event brought together close to 100 policy makers, security practitioners, researchers and industry in Brussels. The aim of the workshop was to promote a Capability Driven Approach, to strengthen the forward-looking and early identification of needs and solutions in the field of internal security and law enforcement.

On 23 March 2023, the European Commission organised a workshop on the current and future use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for security purposes. This workshop was carried out in the framework of the Community for European Research and Innovation for Security (CERIS), with the active involvement of the EU agencies Europol and eu-LISA. The 90 participants included security practitioners, policy makers and researchers as well as representatives from industry and civil society.

The meeting was a response to the security research community's interest in practical aspects of Europol’s amended Regulation and its new engagement rules in Horizon Europe activities. Some 40 ongoing Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe projects represented by researchers, engineers, police officers and industry dived into discussions on just opened cooperation paths, but also the prospect of result validation and possible deployment to front lines, especially via Europol Innovation Lab’s products and services.

On 9 March 2023, close to 70 policy makers, security practitioners and representatives from research and technology organisations, industry and different EU agencies (e.g. eu-LISA, Frontex) met to discuss different methods and best practices for testing and validation of innovative solutions in the field of border management, customs control and maritime surveillance. During this CERIS workshop, the participants shared with each other their lessons learned and came up with recommendations.