EU Migration Pact at One Year: Progress Patchy as Divisions Persist

European Union leaders gathering in Brussels on 18 and 19 June are conducting the first summit-level review of the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, one year after the landmark legislation entered into force. The stocktake arrives at a moment of considerable strain, with the European Commission’s own progress report confirming that nearly a third of Pact measures are running behind schedule.

The Commission’s June 2026 assessment places 68 per cent of Pact obligations on track but flags the remaining 32 per cent as delayed, with the solidarity mechanism and reception conditions identified as the most troubled areas. Nineteen member states have submitted pledges — either relocation places or financial contributions — yet Hungary, Poland and Slovakia have refused to engage with the mechanism entirely, a defiance that continues to generate acute tension within the Council.

Border screening procedures are operational in Greece, Italy and Spain, but capacity constraints are preventing member states from meeting the Pact’s five-day processing target. Current average processing times stand between 12 and 15 days, a gap that border management officials acknowledge will require significant additional investment to close.

The returns dimension has moved swiftly up the legislative agenda. The European Parliament voted this week on an updated EU returns policy designed to ensure that individuals without the right to remain leave once a removal order is issued. The Parliament scheduled a formal vote on the text for 18 June, the opening day of the summit, underlining how intertwined the legislative and executive calendars have become on this file.

Human rights organisations have raised sustained objections to the expanded list of designated safe third countries, which now includes Tunisia, Morocco and Egypt. Critics argue the designations are politically motivated and incompatible with the protection obligations established under international law. The Commission has defended the approach, insisting that each designation is subject to ongoing review.

The Belarus-Poland border continues to present a separate and persistent challenge. Lithuania and Latvia are also reporting continued pressure along the eastern route, where hybrid warfare tactics — the deliberate instrumentalisation of migrants as a geopolitical tool — remain a feature of the security landscape. Leaders are expected to reaffirm their commitment to a joint response that treats irregular border crossings as a matter of European security, not merely humanitarian management.

The agenda also connects migration governance to the EU’s broader drugs strategy. Trafficking networks exploiting the same smuggling corridors used for irregular migration have prompted leaders to discuss a unified border security approach that addresses both challenges simultaneously. The operational logic is straightforward: dismantling one network weakens the other.

Italy’s Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is pressing partners to expand the Albania model — under which asylum claims are processed outside EU territory — as a template for further third-country partnerships. Germany, meanwhile, is navigating intense domestic political pressure over irregular arrivals, a dynamic that is shaping Berlin’s negotiating posture even as Poland and Hungary continue to obstruct the solidarity mechanism.

On the external dimension, the EU is deploying trade and development funds as leverage in readmission negotiations with eight countries. A deal with Morocco is reported to be the closest to conclusion, a development that would mark a significant milestone in the effort to operationalise the Pact’s external partnership framework.

European Council President António Costa set the tone ahead of the summit. “We need continued momentum across all priority areas,” he said. “Implementation cannot be selective.” Whether member states heed that instruction will define whether the Pact delivers substantive change or remains, at least in part, an exercise in ambitious paperwork.