On 6 April 2020, Mr. Tautvydas Tamulevičius, Vice-minister of the Interior of the Republic of Lithuania, as the current Chair of the Prague Process Strategic Group, informed the 50 participating states about the joint decision to reschedule all face-to-face activities planned before summer due to the COVID-19 outbreak.
On November 13, 2019, the 1st Knowledge Exchange Session of the Pilot Projects on Legal Migration took place at the premises of the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Migration and Home Affairs (DG HOME) in Brussels. Approximately 50 participants (including representatives from DG HOME and the Directorate-General for Neighbourhood and Enlargement Negotiations (DG NEAR), the MPF pilot project coordinators, European Union (EU) Member States (MS), as well as IOM Belgium, GIZ and ILO, and actors interested in launching pilot projects, engaged in dynamic discussions to share past and current experiences and knowledge building for future opportunities.
Human trafficking continues to be a challenge in the EU today, requiring action at policy level and appropriate practical responses. The INSigHT Action aims to address this issue by linking three strategic geographic areas along major irregular migration routes between Africa and Europe.
Well-functioning and efficient borders form the foundation for regional mobility and development. Whether we consider the transit of cargo trains or containers full of goods, business people flying to meet their associates, tourism communities that cross national borders as part of their leisure patterns or even people fleeing persecution, the success or failure of these activities is dependent on well-governed borders. With the number of border crossings accelerating year by year, the need for national authorities to adopt a more progressive concept of comprehensive border governance becomes imperative.
Between June and November 2019, an external independent evaluation has assessed the main impacts, strengths and challenges of five actions granted under the first phase of the Mobility Partnership Facility (MPF) and selected to ensure a balanced approach in terms of geographical coverage and specific fields of intervention. In particular, through a solid methodology and triangulation of information collected via desk research, fieldwork, review of action materials, interviews with the involved stakeholders and final beneficiaries as well as a survey, the assignment has analysed each action with specific reference to institutional cooperation, operational aspects, and sustainability of results with the aim to formulate lessons learnt and recommendations on future implementation modalities. Moreover, some aspects unveiled interesting horizontal and crosscutting aspects summarised hereafter.
