The European Migration Network (EMN) has released its Annual Report on Migration and Asylum for 2023, published alongside a Statistical Annex developed by Eurostat. The Annual Report is a comprehensive document outlining the most significant legal and policy developments and statistical trends that occurred in 2023 at European Union (EU) level, across EMN Member (EU Member States except Denmark) and Observer Countries, including Norway, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, and Serbia and statistical inputs provided by Armenia and Montenegro.
At EU-level, the most significant development in 2023 was the political agreement reached in December by the European Parliament and the Council of the EU on the Pact on Migration and Asylum, which was thereafter adopted in 2024. The Pact aims among others to ensure that the EU has strong and secure external borders, that people’s rights are guaranteed, and that no EU Member State is left alone under pressure.
Amidst the ongoing war in Ukraine, the EU extended temporary protection for displaced persons from Ukraine until March 2025. Temporary protection was prolonged again in 2024 until March 2026. EMN Member Countries and Norway provided shelter to approximately 4.3 million beneficiaries of temporary protection. Further efforts were directed to integration measures, including housing, education, and labour market access, to support displaced persons from Ukraine.