European Asylum Policy

As the full implementation date of the new European Pact on Migration and Asylum approaches, the adaptation of national systems to the new European legal framework appears to be incomplete.

With just under two weeks to go before the full implementation of the new European Pact on Migration and Asylum, scheduled for 12 June 2026, the process of adapting national systems to the new European legal framework still appears incomplete. Despite the two-year transitional period provided for following the adoption, in spring 2024, of the ten legal acts comprising the Pact (nine regulations and one directive), to allow for the necessary adaptation of regulatory frameworks, organisational structures, administrative procedures, human resources and national infrastructure, the third report on the state of implementation of the reform published by the European Commission on 8 May 2026 highlights delays and persistent operational, regulatory and organisational challenges in most Member States, despite some ‘significant progress’.

The report forms part of the periodic monitoring system designed to accompany the various stages of the Pact’s implementation, also in light of the Joint Implementation Plan, drawn up by the Commission itself, in collaboration with the Member States and European agencies, in June 2024. This monitoring activity began with the first progress report of 11 June 2025 and continued with the second report of 11 November 2025, adopted alongside the 2025 European Annual Report on Migration and Asylum.

In particular, the Regulation on the management of asylum and migration (“AMMR”, Articles 7 and 84(e)) and the Regulation on asylum procedures (Article 75) required Member States to draw up national implementation plans by December 2024 and, by June 2025, national strategies to ensure adequate administrative and organisational capacity. On this basis, the European Commission adopted the European Strategy on Asylum and Migration in January of this year. However, in addition to delays in the submission of these documents (which Hungary stated it did not wish to submit), only a few Member States have made them public (for an up-to-date overview of the national documents made public, see EUAA, National Implementation Plans and National Strategies under the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, March 2026). In February 2025, around fifty European civil society organisations had, therefore, sent a letter to the European Commission denouncing the lack of transparency and the failure to involve them in the drafting of the national implementation plans, also pointing out the possible conflict with Regulation (EC) No 1049/2001 on public access to documents of the European institutions, which recognises the right of access not only to documents drawn up by the institutions, but also to those received by them.

⚖️ Impact on Migrants & Refugees

These delays affect the ability of migrants and refugees to access necessary protection and resources.

Translated & Prepared by: Policy Desk | AboMatrix