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By late December 2024, Russia had launched 13 major attacks on Ukraine’s critical infrastructure, notably power plants, heating plants and boiler stations, but also hospitals and schools. This continued into January 2025. As a consequence of such attacks, the Helmholtz Centre Berlin, among others, concludes that “many of the combined heat and power plants and cogeneration plants are damaged, and there isn’t enough electricity to go around, which means that control systems and pumps can temporarily shut down. As a result, poorly insulated homes, particularly in urban areas, have less heating. This leads to unacceptable conditions for residents – especially children, the elderly and the sick – and will drive more people to flee, even from areas not directly affected by the fighting”. The energy situation in Ukraine may seem dire at first glance, but a closer look reveals it is less severe than anticipated.

This brief assesses the state of Ukraine’s energy system, and its impact on the population, and discusses the potential for further forced migration to the EU.

Jean-Louis De Brouwer and Ralph Genetzke convened again to discuss the key migration policy developments of 2024 and share their expectations for 2025. Following the adoption of the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, Member States now face various challenges in implementing it. Amidst the electoral successes of anti-immigration parties, as well as the witnessed conflicts and crises across the EU’s neighbourhood, the EU has also been intensifying its migration diplomacy with key partner countries. The panellists assessed the continued efforts to counter irregular migration, migrant smuggling and human trafficking, the new dynamics of return policy and partnerships with third countries in the context of the political priorities of the new Commission. The discussion further aimed to address the legal status of displaced Ukrainians in the EU, plans to boost legal migration channels, and other migration policy developments to expect in 2025.

Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine has strained its migration policies, amplifying longstanding demographic decline and labour shortages. The country faces acute needs for human capital, short- and long-term, with birth rates at historic lows and emigration compounding the crisis.

This policy brief highlights main directions in Russia’s migration policy since the 2022 invasion and underscores the implications of these developments for the Prague Process region. It calls for strategic action to strengthen cooperation with Central Asian states to create alternative labour migration pathways and reduce reliance on Russia, counter the use of migrants as a hybrid tool to challenge European members and work to return displaced Ukrainians, particularly children, home from Russia.

As the year comes to an end, we are pleased to present the new edition of the Quarterly Review for the last quarter of 2024. This issue presents the latest activities and outputs, while reflecting on a milestone year for the Prague Process.

The Prague Process Training Workshop on Reintegration, held in Prague on 3-5 December 2024, gathered 31 experts from 16 participating states, including trainers and the Prague Process Secretariat, to address key aspects of sustainable reintegration. Organised within the Thematic Component 2 on Return, Readmission, and Reintegration (RRR), led by the Czech Republic and co-led by the Republic of Moldova, and as part of the capacity-development efforts of the Prague Process Training Academy, the event marked an important step in enhancing knowledge on reintegration among the Prague Process participating states.

On 27 and 28 November 2024 in Tunis, the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) organized the 7th International Border Management Conference (IBMC) under the auspices of the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Tunisia.

The Conference brought together over 260 participants from 47 countries, including policymakers and practitioner in border governance, representatives from European institutions, international organizations, and academia. Organized and supported by a number of projects and actions implemented by ICMPD, including the Prague Process, the IBMC fostered networking, knowledge sharing, and dialogue on pressing challenges and latest trends in border governance. The representatives of eight Prague Process states expressed their appreciation of this opportunity for learning, networking and collaboration, which aligns with the Prague Process Action Plan 2023-2027.

As digitalisation in migration management advances, new opportunities and pitfalls emerge for migrants navigating both physical and digital borders. While digital tools offer potential benefits, they can inadvertently create barriers, leading to exclusion and exploitation.

On 5-6 November 2024, the Prague Process and European Migration Network (EMN) Luxembourg jointly organised the workshop "Forecasting and New Technologies in Migration and Asylum Governance: State of Play and New Developments" in Luxembourg. This event brought together over 80 experts from 28 states, European institutions, international organisations, and academia. The workshop represented the third joint activity under the Prague Process & EMN cooperation launched in late 2023, focusing on digitalisation, resilience, and forecasting - core horizontal priorities outlined in the Prague Process Action Plan 2023–2027.

On 15-17 October 2024, the Kyrgyz Republic hosted representatives of 12 Prague Process states and introduced them to its national approaches to migration management, human trafficking prevention, and border control. The visit offered participants an opportunity to learn about Kyrgyzstan’s legal frameworks, administrative practices, and digital advancements in migration and border management. 

This activity was organised within the Thematic Component 1: Preventing and fighting irregular migration and migrant smuggling, co-led by Hungary and the Kyrgyz Republic. 

This analysis roots itself in the socio-legal examination of individuals’ experiences purchasing migration-related services from service providers in the opportunistic economy while navigating migration policy instruments. The findings of this analysis hold relevance for all types of digital pre-border processing systems, ranging from asylum to labour migration instruments. This research culminates in the development of clear criteria by which policymakers can counteract the emergence of illicit economies based on their migration systems, with benefits both for users navigating these systems and for states seeking to achieve the uniform and non-discriminatory implementation of their migration policies.