Brussels – 16 December 2025. Interior-ministry attachés from the 27 EU member states convened today in the Council of the European Union’s Justus Lipsius building for the closing session of the Ad-Hoc Working Party on Justice-and-Home-Affairs (JHA) Financial Instruments. The two-day meeting approved presidency compromise texts for three new regulations that will channel an estimated €18 billion into border management, Schengen governance and common visa policy between 2028 and 2034. France, which controls the EU’s longest external land border and will host several high-profile sporting and diplomatic events in the early 2030s, is expected to be one of the primary beneficiaries.
What is in the package? The first regulation creates a dedicated “Schengen & Integrated Border Management” fund to finance smart-border technology (including biometric EES/ETIAS kiosks, PARAFE e-gates and mobile passport readers), joint Frontex operations and inland checks designed to tackle migrant-smuggling networks. A second instrument earmarks fresh money for asylum, migration and integration projects, while a third covers internal-security initiatives such as interoperable databases and police cooperation. In a nod to lessons learned during the Paris 2024 Olympics, eligible costs will now include temporary infrastructure for large events that generate exceptional passenger surges.
For travelers and corporate mobility managers trying to navigate the new EES/ETIAS requirements, VisaHQ’s France portal (https://www.visahq.com/france/) offers real-time guidance, streamlined document checklists, and expedited application services for Schengen visas and work permits. The platform aggregates the latest consular updates and provides tailored support that helps individuals and HR teams stay compliant as France rolls out the border-management tools financed by the EU package.
![EU Working Group Finalises 2028-34 Funding Plan for Schengen Borders and Visa Policy – France Stands to Gain Billions]()
French priorities. According to diplomats, Paris lobbied successfully for language allowing member states to claim reimbursement for “Olympic-related stress tests” of the Entry/Exit System scheduled for spring 2026 and for upgrades at juxtaposed controls in the UK (St Pancras, Dover and Folkestone). The Interior Ministry estimates that France will apply for roughly €1.9 billion over the seven-year period, covering biometric kiosks at regional airports such as Bordeaux-Mérignac and a 24/7 command-and-control centre in Lille to monitor internal Schengen checks along the Belgian border. French companies specialising in border tech—Thales, Idemia and Atos—are poised to compete for lucrative tenders once the regulations receive final parliamentary assent in mid-2026.
Business-traveller impact. For multinational firms moving staff in and out of France, the new funds should translate into more automated e-gate capacity, shorter queues and clearer digital pre-registration options. The package also allocates €350 million for pilot programmes that link corporate Trusted-Traveller databases with Schengen biometric systems—a move the French employers’ federation MEDEF has championed to ease frequent-flyer friction at Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle and Lyon-Saint-Exupéry.
Next steps. The compromise texts now head to COREPER and then to a first-reading vote in the January 2026 Justice and Home Affairs Council. French officials say they will push for rapid adoption so that calls for project proposals can open early in 2027, giving airports and prefectures enough lead time before full EES enforcement in April 2026. Companies with mobility programmes are advised to monitor the Interior Ministry’s ‘France Relance Mobilité’ portal, where co-funding opportunities and public-private partnership templates will be published once the EU budget lines are in force.
What is in the package? The first regulation creates a dedicated “Schengen & Integrated Border Management” fund to finance smart-border technology (including biometric EES/ETIAS kiosks, PARAFE e-gates and mobile passport readers), joint Frontex operations and inland checks designed to tackle migrant-smuggling networks. A second instrument earmarks fresh money for asylum, migration and integration projects, while a third covers internal-security initiatives such as interoperable databases and police cooperation. In a nod to lessons learned during the Paris 2024 Olympics, eligible costs will now include temporary infrastructure for large events that generate exceptional passenger surges.
For travelers and corporate mobility managers trying to navigate the new EES/ETIAS requirements, VisaHQ’s France portal (https://www.visahq.com/france/) offers real-time guidance, streamlined document checklists, and expedited application services for Schengen visas and work permits. The platform aggregates the latest consular updates and provides tailored support that helps individuals and HR teams stay compliant as France rolls out the border-management tools financed by the EU package.
French priorities. According to diplomats, Paris lobbied successfully for language allowing member states to claim reimbursement for “Olympic-related stress tests” of the Entry/Exit System scheduled for spring 2026 and for upgrades at juxtaposed controls in the UK (St Pancras, Dover and Folkestone). The Interior Ministry estimates that France will apply for roughly €1.9 billion over the seven-year period, covering biometric kiosks at regional airports such as Bordeaux-Mérignac and a 24/7 command-and-control centre in Lille to monitor internal Schengen checks along the Belgian border. French companies specialising in border tech—Thales, Idemia and Atos—are poised to compete for lucrative tenders once the regulations receive final parliamentary assent in mid-2026.
Business-traveller impact. For multinational firms moving staff in and out of France, the new funds should translate into more automated e-gate capacity, shorter queues and clearer digital pre-registration options. The package also allocates €350 million for pilot programmes that link corporate Trusted-Traveller databases with Schengen biometric systems—a move the French employers’ federation MEDEF has championed to ease frequent-flyer friction at Paris-Charles-de-Gaulle and Lyon-Saint-Exupéry.
Next steps. The compromise texts now head to COREPER and then to a first-reading vote in the January 2026 Justice and Home Affairs Council. French officials say they will push for rapid adoption so that calls for project proposals can open early in 2027, giving airports and prefectures enough lead time before full EES enforcement in April 2026. Companies with mobility programmes are advised to monitor the Interior Ministry’s ‘France Relance Mobilité’ portal, where co-funding opportunities and public-private partnership templates will be published once the EU budget lines are in force.
