Latest Migration News
On the move
Recent highlights
- In the central Mediterranean, five people, including a minor, are missing and believed dead, after 45 were rescued by the Italian coastguard close to the island of Lampedusa, as reported by InfoMigrants on 5 December 2025. The boat had left from Tunisia, with passengers coming from Gambia, Sierra Leone, Mali, Senegal, Guinea and Ivory Coast. According to UNHCR, the boat carried 25 unaccompanied minors.
- In the western Mediterranean, 18 migrants have been reported missing after their boat was adrift at sea for 9 days. According to a report by La Voz de Ibiza, Spanish authorities rescued five people on 19 November 2025 and transferred them to the port of Ibiza. The survivors stated that other passengers of the boat started to jump into the sea after the boat had been adrift for several days in extreme conditions. Spanish authorities have opened an investigation.
- In the eastern Mediterranean, at least 17 people have died after their boat capsized off the coast of Crete, DW reported on 8 December 2025. Two survivors were found in critical condition and brought to the hospital. They reported that their boat had come into a storm, after which the passengers were left in extreme conditions without access to food or water. Greek authorities are now investigating whether the deaths were caused by dehydration.
Positive News
The Italian newspaper L’Internazionale reports on Spain’s GDP growth since 2023. Spain has recorded GDP growth of 3% compared to 1% for the rest of the eurozone. According to the Financial Times and economists at JPMorgan, this growth is due to Spain’s migration policies. In May 2025, Spain announced that it would regularise the status of nearly 1 million foreign nationals over a three-year period. Foreign nationals are expected to account for 40% of new jobs in 2024. As the media outlet points out, these migration policies are very different from the hostile and restrictive policies of Italy, the United Kingdom and Denmark.
EU updates
- On 10 December 2025, the European Commission is hosting the 2025 International Conference of the Global Alliance to Counter Migrant Smuggling in Brussels, politico reports. Over 80 delegations from EU agencies, partner countries and international organisations are meeting to strengthen coordination and cooperation against migrant smuggling. The delegations plan to approve a joint declaration reiterating their commitment to enhance cooperation along migration routes and to address the digital aspects of smuggling, including removing digital ads used to recruit migrants and interrupting illegal payment systems.
- Simultaneously, the Council of Europe is organising a gathering on 10 December 2025 in Strasbourg to counter attacks on the European Convention on Human Rights by leaders facing pressure over migration policies, such as Keir Starmer and Mette Frederiksen. Delegations from around 40 of the 46 Council of Europe members are expected, including the UK’s Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy. The aim is to challenge claims that the ECHR is blocking governments from taking action on migration, including returns. The objective is to begin working on a political declaration that to be adopted in Moldova in May.
- On 8 December 2025, the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council agreed on a common general approach on three EU legislative texts related to returns within the Schengen area. The Danish Presidency succeeded in reaching a general approach among Member States on the regulation on return, as well as on the European list of ‘safe’ countries of origin and on the regulation on the application of the concept of ‘safe’ third countries.
Countries
Return Mania
Mapping policies and practices in the EuroMed region
The research provides an overview of the current return policies and practices in the Euro-Mediterranean region and sheds a light on the violations of human rights entailed by this “return obsession”, which is shared across Member States, EU institutions and third countries alike. The report covers national return policies and practices in the Mashreq and Maghreb regions, focusing on returns from Turkey and Lebanon to Syria, and on readmission agreements between Italy and Tunisia, Spain and Morocco as well as France and Morocco. It also looks at returns from Germany and Italy to Egypt. Read More