Interior ministers of the European Union member states reached a political agreement in Brussels on Monday on a mandatory solidarity mechanism for the redistribution of asylum seekers for 2026. The new system is intended to ease the situation for the most burdened countries with a high number of arrivals. Slovakia has long rejected this initiative. EU states also agreed on new rules ensuring faster and more efficient returns of unsuccessful asylum seekers to the countries from which they came.
After completing the procedural steps, the member states must approve the proposal by a qualified majority at the next Council meeting. According to a TASR source, this will likely happen on December 16, but no later than the end of the year.
Under the new system, EU countries would have to accept a set number of migrants, pay a financial contribution for each migrant not accepted, or provide operational and technical support to the countries most exposed to migratory pressure. A total of 21,000 migrants are expected to be relocated by 2026.
Dissatisfied migrants in Veľký Krtíš (Archive video)
It is up to each member state to decide what type of solidarity measure to promise, including a combination of different measures.
Cyprus, Greece, Spain and Italy should be eligible for the EU Solidarity Fund due to migration pressures. Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Croatia, Austria and Poland can apply to be exempted from contributing to the fund in the coming years due to significant migration pressure in the past five years. Some, including the Czech Republic and Poland, have already done so.
Slovakia wants an exception
The negotiations are politically sensitive, as governments across the Union face pressure to tighten migration measures. Slovakia is represented at Monday's EU Council meeting by Interior Minister Matúš Šutaj Eštok, who on Sunday announced Slovakia's rejection of the proposed measures.
"We reject illegal migration, we reject mandatory relocations, we promote border protection and we insist on the sovereign right to decide who will live on our territory," said Šutaj Eštok.
The Minister of the Interior reiterated after a meeting of ministers of the European Union member states in Brussels on Monday that Slovakia rejects the mandatory solidarity mechanism in the redistribution of asylum seekers. According to him, the country should have an exception in view of the tens of thousands of refugees from Ukraine, whom it accepted after the outbreak of the war with Russia.
The solidarity system is part of a wider package of proposals that ministers are discussing alongside initiatives to tighten migration rules. These include the creation of so-called"return centres" outside the EU for rejected asylum seekers, tougher sanctions for migrants who refuse to leave, and the possibility of returning people to third countries deemed safe by the EU.
The proposed mechanism is part of the wider EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, which sets out binding rules for managing migration within the Union and creates a common asylum system. The Pact was adopted in 2024, with Poland, Slovakia and Hungary voting against. It will enter into force on 12 June 2026.
Agreement on faster and more effective return of migrants
EU countries agreed on Monday on new rules to ensure faster and more efficient returns of failed asylum seekers to their countries of origin, the Council of the EU, which represents the member states, said.
The agreement was reached by EU interior ministers at their meeting in Brussels. The return regulation, which complements the migration and asylum pact, is also intended to enable some new solutions to the problem of illegal migration, for example facilitating the establishment of return centres for migrants in countries outside the European Union.
