The European Commission has named Greece, Spain, Cyprus and Italy as the EU member states under the heaviest migratory pressure, as it launched the second Annual Migration Management Cycle on 6 November.

The four countries will be eligible for support from the EU's Solidarity Pool for 2027, provided they continue to apply the bloc's responsibility rules on asylum claims. The Commission also proposed a second Solidarity Pool for next year, although the proposal itself has not been made public.

Why the four countries were named

Greece, Spain and Cyprus were listed because of what the Commission called a disproportionate level of arrivals over the past year. Italy was listed because of a disproportionate number of arrivals following search and rescue operations at sea.

Spain's listing also reflects the overall migration situation there, including the incident in Ceuta, where large numbers of people crossed from Morocco earlier this year.

Presenting the findings in Brussels, the European Commissioner for Home Affairs and Migration, Magnus Brunner, said the drop in arrivals showed that the EU's reforms were working and that the bloc now had more control over who could come to Europe, who could stay and who needed to leave.

Arrivals continue to fall

The Commission's second Annual Asylum and Migration Report found that illegal border crossings fell by more than a third in the first half of 2026, after falling by more than 50 per cent in the previous two years. Secondary movements between member states and asylum applications have also fallen significantly, while returns continue to rise.

The report also confirmed progress in putting the Pact on Migration and Asylum into practice. The pact now fully applies, the Eurodac fingerprint system is operational in all member states, and most countries are screening all irregular migrants and operating the border procedure, under which applicants are processed in the border area.

However, the Commission said further effort was needed on the responsibility rules and on transfers of asylum applicants back to the member state responsible for their claim.

Fifteen states at risk, six in a significant situation

Fifteen other member states were classed as at risk of migratory pressure: Belgium, Czechia, Germany, Estonia, Ireland, France, Croatia, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Poland, Romania, Slovenia and Finland. They will have priority access to the Permanent EU Migration Support Toolbox, and their situation will be monitored and re-evaluated if necessary.

A further six countries — Bulgaria, Czechia, Estonia, Croatia, Austria and Poland — were found to face a significant migratory situation because of cumulative pressures over the last five years, including sustained numbers of people under temporary protection and strains on return systems. They will be able to ask for a full or partial deduction from their contributions to the Solidarity Pool for the coming year.

What happens next

It is now for the Council to agree the size of the 2027 Solidarity Pool and how each member state will contribute. Countries will be able to choose how they contribute — through relocation of asylum applicants, responsibility offsets, financial support, alternative measures or a combination of these.

Once the Council adopts a decision, the solidarity contributions will be made public and will be legally binding. The annual cycle is designed to balance solidarity between member states with responsibility for managing arrivals, under the rules set out in the Asylum and Migration Management Regulation.