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15.5.2025 | In March, the European Commission submitted a proposal for a new return regulation that aims to improve the effectiveness of the return of persons staying illegally in the EU and to prevent unauthorised movements within the Schengen area. The regulation would replace the current Return Directive. The Government informed Parliament of the Commission's proposal by submitting a Union communication on 15 May.

20.2.2025 | The Czech Republic's Minister of the Interior Vít Rakušan will visit Finland between 19 and 21 February. Minister Rakušan will meet Finland's Minister of the Interior Mari Rantanen and travel with her to Vaalimaa border crossing point, where the ministers will be hosted by the Southeast Finland Border Guard District. The topics on their agenda will include discussions on Finland's action to combat the instrumentalisation of migrants. 

13.10.2022 | EU home affairs ministers will convene in Luxembourg on 14 October. The ministers will continue the discussion on Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine. The focus will be on the refugee situation in the EU and the effects of the war on the Union's internal security. The ministers will also discuss the EU’s migration and asylum policy reform. Minister of the Interior Krista Mikkonen will represent Finland at the meeting.

12.11.2020 | The European Commission issued a comprehensive communication on the reform of migration and asylum policy on 23 September. The communication was accompanied by five legislative proposals. The Government expressed its position on the Commission's proposals in its communications submitted to Parliament on 12 November.

9.3.2023 | EU home affairs ministers gather in Brussels on 9 March for a meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council. Items on the agenda include the monitoring of the implementation of the Action Plans on the Western Balkans and Central Mediterranean migration routes. The European Commission presented both plans at the end of last year. Minister of the Interior Krista Mikkonen will represent Finland at the meeting.

7.10.2020 | On 8 October, Minister of the Interior Maria Ohisalo will attend an informal meeting of the EU home affairs ministers via video conference. The main theme of the meeting will be the reform of the EU migration and asylum policy. The ministers will now have their first discussion about the reform and the way forward. No decisions will be made at the informal meeting.

3.3.2022 | EU home affairs ministers will gather in Brussels on 3 March for a meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council. Topics on the meeting agenda will include the state of Schengen and the reform of the EU’s migration and asylum policy. The ministers will also continue their discussions on the EU’s response to the situation in Ukraine. Minister of the Interior Krista Mikkonen will represent Finland at the meeting.

2.2.2022 | EU home affairs ministers will gather in Lille, France, on 3 February for an Informal Meeting of Justice and Home Affairs Ministers. The ministers will discuss the security of Europe’s borders and the reform of the EU’s migration and asylum policy. Another topic on the agenda will be the impact of climate change on civil protection. No decisions will be made at the informal meeting.

18.4.2024 | On 18 April, the Government submitted a number of proposals related to migration to Parliament. They concern more stringent provisions on international protection, preventing evasion of provisions on entry, introducing a border procedure and reducing the reception allowance. A proposal concerning the period of residence laid down in the Citizenship Act was also submitted to Parliament.

8.7.2022 | On 27 April, the European Commission issued a package on reforming legal migration. The package included a Communication on attracting skills and talent to the EU, and proposals for the revision of the Single Permit Directive and the Long-Term Residents Directive. The Finnish Government expressed its views on the proposed Directives in statements issued to the Parliament on 8 July.

20.2.2024 | Finland’s Minister of the Interior Mari Rantanen and Sweden’s Minister for Migration Maria Malmer Stenergard met in Finland on 20 February. The Ministers visited Finland’s eastern border and received an update on instrumentalised migration at the eastern border. 

29.11.2019 | Minister of the Interior Maria Ohisalo will chair the meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council in Brussels on 2 December. This is the last meeting of home affairs ministers to be held under Finland’s Presidency of the Council of the European Union. Among the items on the agenda are the future of EU migration and asylum policy and of internal security in the EU.

5.11.2021 | In June, the Ministry of the Interior set up a project to define long-term objectives for Finland’s comprehensive migration policy. As part of the project, citizens and immigrants are now invited to express their views on the subject.

8.4.2024 | The interior ministers of Finland and Estonia visited the Pelkola border guard station and the Imatra border crossing point on 8 April. The exceptional circumstances at Finland's eastern border continue. The ministers were briefed on the current situation at the border and the project to build a fence on the border.

4.3.2024 | The EU home affairs ministers will gather in Brussels on 4 March for a meeting of the Justice and Home Affairs Council. The ministers will discuss issues related to border management, migration and the situation in Ukraine. Finland will be represented at the meeting by Minister of the Interior Mari Rantanen.

3.6.2024 | Minister of the Interior Mari Rantanen met Austria's Federal Minister for the Interior in Vienna on Monday. The ministers discussed cooperation between the two countries in migration policy, ways to manage migration, and partnerships with third countries. Minister Rantanen will travel from Vienna to Brussels, where she will participate in the European Civil Protection Forum's high-level panel discussion on EU preparedness.

30.6.2021 | Finland needs a migration policy that brings together the areas of responsibilities of different operators. On 30 June, the Ministry of the Interior set up a project to define long-term objectives for Finland’s comprehensive migration policy.

18.8.2021 | This week, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has released a non-return advisory calling for all countries to suspend the return of Afghan nationals to their country of origin. The advisory also applies to the return of asylum seekers who have had their claims rejected. Finland has followed this policy for several weeks now.

15.3.2021 | The home affairs ministers and foreign affairs ministers of EU member states will meet at an informal video conference on 15 March 2021. Finland will be represented by Minister for Foreign Affairs Pekka Haavisto and State Secretary Olli-Poika Parviainen. The announced theme of the meeting is the external dimension of the EU’s migration and asylum reform. The debate will focus on mutually benefic...

27.2.2020 | In its decision on 27 February, the Government confirmed the policy of the government groups to assist vulnerable asylum seekers. The measures now agreed will facilitate the humanitarian situation of asylum seekers in the EU Member States of the Mediterranean region.