The European Council adopted inter alia the following conclusions on migration:

• Increased external action: With a view to preventing irregular departures and loss of life, reducing pressure on EU borders and fighting against smugglers, EU leaders decided they would intensify cooperation with countries of origin and transit.

• Enhancing cooperation on returns and readmission: EU leaders stressed the importance of swift actions to ensure effective returns, using all relevant EU policies and instruments, including diplomacy, development, trade and visas, and legal migration. To ensure a more coordinated approach across the EU, the European Council: (i) invited the Commission and the Council to make full use of the mechanism for issuing visas with limited territorial validity, as provided for by article 25a of the Visa Code Regulation, (ii) invited member states to recognise each other’s return decisions and (iii) called on the Asylum Agency to provide guidance to increase the use of the concepts of safe third countries and safe countries of origin

• Control of EU external borders: the Council called on the Commission to fund measures by Member States that directly contribute to the control of the EU external borders, such as the border management pilot projects, as well as to the enhancement of the border control in key countries on transit routes to the European Union.

• Fighting instrumentalisation, trafficking and smuggling: The European Council condemned attempts to instrumentalise migrants for political purposes, particularly when used as leverage or as part of hybrid destabilising actions. It called on the Commission and the Council to take forward work on the relevant tools, including measures against transport operators.

• Data on migratory flows and situational awareness: EU leaders called on the Commission and the Council, with the support of relevant EU agencies, to develop a common situational awareness, to improve monitoring of data on reception capacities and on migratory flows and detect new migratory trends more quickly, both into and within the EU.

• Pact on Migration and Asylum and related files: EU leaders called on the Council and the European Parliament to complete work on the pact on migration and asylum (in accordance with the joint roadmap), the revised Schengen borders code and the revised return directive.

For further information, please read the full conclusions of the Special meeting of the European Council (9 February 2023) below.