The Prague Process is a targeted migration dialogue and a policy process promoting migration partnerships among the countries of the European Union, Schengen area, Eastern Partnership, Western Balkans, Central Asian, as well as Türkiye.
The Process originated from the EU-financed project “Building Migration Partnerships” and was initiated during the Czech EU Presidency at the 1st Prague Process Ministerial Conference in April 2009, culminating in the endorsement of the Prague Process Joint Declaration.
In the Joint Declaration, serving as a common political framework, the participating states agreed to strengthen cooperation in migration management, to explore and develop agreed principles and elements for close migration partnerships between their countries, following a comprehensive, balanced, pragmatic and operational approach, and respecting the rights and human dignity of migrants and their family members, as well as of refugees.
Over the recent years, most participating states introduced dynamic changes to their migration legislation. Non-EU states largely adapted their policies to the EU acquis. This approximation of legal systems and national practices, as well as the continuous exchange of knowledge and experience, represent the key achievements of the Prague Process to date.
Milestones
The main principles and cooperation areas, set by the Joint Declaration and by adopted at the 2nd Ministerial Conference Prague Process Action Plan 2012-2016, and reconfirmed in 2022, include:
- Preventing and fighting illegal migration;
- Readmission, voluntary return and sustainable reintegration;
- Legal migration with a special emphasis on labour migration;
- Integration of legally residing migrants;
- Migration, mobility and development;
- Strengthening capacities in the area of asylum and international protection.
All six cooperation areas to a certain extent mirror the objectives of the Global Approach to Migration and Mobility (GAMM), being the overarching framework of the EU external migration and asylum policy. In the context of the GAMM the Prague Process has been given a priority as a regional dialogue process towards the East. The importance of the Prague Process and its results were also recognised by the European Commission in its Communication on the GAMM of 18 November 2011, and confirmed by the Council of the European Union in its Conclusions of 29 May 2012.
In 2015 was carried out an evaluation of the Prague Process Action Plan implementation in the period 2012-2014, with the Evaluation report endorsed by the Senior Officials’ meeting in Prague in December 2015. The report concludes that the Prague Process has significantly contributed to enhancing international cooperation on migration in the region. The participating states find the six Cooperation Areas set out in the Action Plan as coherent with their national migration policies and complementary to other existing international forums, while the Prague Process activities gave an important stimulus for modifications in the migration management systems.
The current, 4th phase of the Prague Process, is shaped by the Ministerial Declaration 2022 and the Prague Process Action Plan 2023-2027 adopted at the 4th Prague Process Ministerial Conference, held by the Czech Presidency of the Council of the EU on 24-25 October 2022 in Prague. The Parties decided to widen the scope of their joint work, signifying the commitment to deepen the established cooperation, while recognising present realities and pressing challenges that require joint solutions. They also have called for more operational collaboration, including through the sharing of information, capacity building, modern technologies and digitalisation. The work of the Process builds upon the three main pillars:
Within the new five-year mandate, the Prague Process Migration Observatory and Training Academy shall expand existing capacities and enhance the resilience of the Parties, allowing them to react quickly and flexibly to emerging challenges. Moreover, four designated Thematic Components should support the partial implementation of the Action Plan 2023-2027. The European Commission financially supports the implementation of the Action Plan through the Migration Partnership Facility. ICMPD serves as the Secretariat of the Prague Process.