In search of new ways to push the EU’s border control well beyond its territory, a Council presidency paper to the 13 November 2025 meeting of the EU Council’s Working Party on External Aspects of Asylum and Migration (pdf) explores “place of safety arrangements”. In short, these are agreements with third countries to have them intercept and detain irregular migrants before they arrive in Europe.
Something something didn’t we all get together already and agree that climate change would cause wars and migration and that we wanted to do it in such a way where everyone involved was treated with dignity and have somewhere to turn?