With this seal, the four countries will be able to access the new ‘instrument of solidarity‘ provided for in the European Pact on Migration and Asylum from mid-2026.
This mechanism obliges the rest of the Member States to help Spain, Italy, Greece and Cyprus, although it allows them to choose the way to do so.
Specifically, possible options include the European distribution of migrants, financial contributions or alternative measures of technical support or with personnel or equipment. In no case are mandatory fees provided, but that relocations will always be voluntary.
The Migratory Pact provides thatCountries that refuse to accept migrants must pay a penalty of 20,000 euros per person or provide some other type of help to those affected by migratory pressure.
However, if the Commission detects systemic failures in the control of migratory flows in a State under pressure, the rest of the countries will not be obliged to execute their solidarity commitments.
The proposal of the Community Executive indicates the ‘preliminary fair quota’ of migrants that each Member State should receive in the distribution, but Brussels has decided not to make these figures public to avoid internal divisions, since this is one of the issues that most poisons the European debate.
The numbers will only be known when EU interior ministers reach an agreement, which will be based on the needs of states under pressure, offers from contributing states and applicable deductions or exemptions.
In its decision this Tuesday, the Community Executive has also concluded that Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, France, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Netherlands, Poland and Finland are at risk of migratory pressure, due to high numbers of arrivals, tensions in their reception systems or risk of migratory instrumentalization.
These countries will have priority access to the Migration Support Toolbox, which includes, among other measures, operational and technical support from Frontex and the European Asylum Agency, community financing or assistance for repatriations.
Finally, Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Croatia, Austria and Poland they face a “significant immigration situation” due to pressures accumulated in the last five years. This means that they will be able to ask the Council for a total or partial deduction of their contribution to the solidarity mechanism.
In its annual report on Asylum and Migration, Brussels notes a “continuous improvement in the migration situation” in the EU during the period analyzed (July 2024 – June 2025), with a 35% reduction in irregular entries.
At the same time, a large number of problems persist, such as pressure from new irregular arrivals, unauthorized movements within the EU, the reception of Ukrainian refugees, the instrumentalization of migration by Russia and Belarus and the lack of cooperation from third countries on return and readmission.