The European Commission expects a significant increase in deportations from the European Union for the year just ended. “The deportation rate rose from 19 percent in 2023 to 27 percent in the first three quarters of 2025. This means we are likely to reach the highest deportation rate since 2019 in 2025,” EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Magnus Brunner told Welt am Sonntag. However, this was “still far from sufficient,” the Austrian commissioner said.
“We must combat illegal migration on all fronts. That means consistently deporting those who have forfeited the right to remain in the EU,” Brunner said. It also means “the rapid rejection of people with little prospect of being granted asylum” and “close cooperation with third countries so that people do not set out on dangerous migration routes in the first place.”
Brunner said that the EU’s 27 member states will be able to carry out deportations “even more effectively” once the legislative proposals presented by the Commission in early 2025 are implemented. The current figures already show that initial progress has been made.
At the beginning of December, EU member states reached far-reaching agreements in Brussels on key aspects of migration policy. Among other things, they aim to increase pressure on rejected asylum seekers and make deportations more efficient. The creation of return centers in third countries outside the EU is also set to become possible.
