Preventing and countering the facilitation of unauthorised entry, transit and stay in the EU [EU Legislation in Progress]

Written by Anja Radjenovic (1st edition).

In November 2023, the Commission proposed a directive to modernise and strengthen the legal framework on the fight against migrant smuggling. The proposal addresses the steady rise in irregular arrivals in the EU and the rise in smuggling on all main EU entry routes. The current directive defining the offence of facilitation of unauthorised entry, transit and residence in the EU, and the framework decision on strengthening of the penal framework have both been widely criticised for their failure to provide legal certainty and uniformity of implementation. Parliament has been the main critic of these legal acts since their adoption in 2002. Many human rights players have also warned that the overly broad definition of migrant smuggling has resulted in the investigation and prosecution of innocent people, be they smuggled migrants or individuals providing humanitarian assistance to irregular migrants.

To clearly define and effectively sanction migrant smuggling, the Commission would replace the existing rules with others focused on criminal offences, penalties for natural persons, liability of and sanctions for legal persons, but also on jurisdiction, prevention, investigation and data collection.

In Parliament, the file has been assigned to the LIBE committee, with Birgit Sippel (S&D, Germany) as rapporteur. The next expected step is the publication of a draft report.

Complete version

• March 2024: ‘Preventing and countering the facilitation of unauthorised entry, transit and stay in the EU‘ (1st edition)