Looking into 2025: What migration-related developments to expect

Jean-Louis De Brouwer, Director of the European Affairs Program at the Egmont Institute, and Ralph Genetzke, Director at the ICMPD Brussels Mission, 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.

The discussion is moderated by Justyna Segeš Frelak, Head of Policy a.i. at ICMPD.