At the close of the European Council meeting in Brussels on 18-19 December, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni convened an informal huddle of 15 like-minded Member States to accelerate work on over-hauling EU migration management. Leaders from Denmark, the Netherlands, Austria, Bulgaria, Cyprus, Croatia, Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Latvia, Malta, Poland and Sweden joined Meloni and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen for a 90-minute session that focused on two files of immediate business interest: the draft regulation on fast-track returns of rejected asylum-seekers and a common EU list of “safe countries of origin.”
Background papers circulated by the Italian chair highlight employers’ concerns that slow repatriation procedures and dis-harmonised country-of-origin lists complicate corporate mobility planning and raise compliance costs for multinationals that move staff around the bloc. The group agreed to push for political agreement on both regulations before the end of the current Parliament in April 2026, and to explore public-private partnerships that would speed up identity verification and readmission logistics.
![Italy and 14 EU partners push new ‘innovative solutions’ to manage migration]()
Italy positioned itself as a bridge between southern frontier states that feel the brunt of irregular arrivals and northern labour-short economies that want legal pathways to attract talent. Meloni underlined that a “balanced package” must couple tougher external-border controls with expanded legal-entry channels such as the recently published 2026-28 Flow Decree creating nearly 500,000 new work-visa slots.
With so many moving parts, companies and individual travelers can streamline their preparations through VisaHQ, which offers real-time updates on Italian and Schengen visa policies, digital document checks, and application management tools. The platform’s dedicated Italy page (https://www.visahq.com/italy/) lets HR teams track multiple filings, verify eligibility against evolving safe-country lists, and secure the right permits quickly—helping businesses stay compliant while the EU fine-tunes its migration architecture.
For companies, the meeting signals that the EU’s long-stalled Pact on Migration and Asylum is finally moving again. If the returns and safe-country rules are adopted, HR teams can expect a more predictable Schengen environment, quicker decisions on asylum backlogs and fewer ad-hoc internal border checks that disrupt business travel. However, timelines are tight and political campaigning for the 2026 European elections could yet delay the package. Mobility managers should monitor Council working-group calendars and prepare for a possible phasing-in of the new rules as early as Q4 2026.
Background papers circulated by the Italian chair highlight employers’ concerns that slow repatriation procedures and dis-harmonised country-of-origin lists complicate corporate mobility planning and raise compliance costs for multinationals that move staff around the bloc. The group agreed to push for political agreement on both regulations before the end of the current Parliament in April 2026, and to explore public-private partnerships that would speed up identity verification and readmission logistics.
Italy positioned itself as a bridge between southern frontier states that feel the brunt of irregular arrivals and northern labour-short economies that want legal pathways to attract talent. Meloni underlined that a “balanced package” must couple tougher external-border controls with expanded legal-entry channels such as the recently published 2026-28 Flow Decree creating nearly 500,000 new work-visa slots.
With so many moving parts, companies and individual travelers can streamline their preparations through VisaHQ, which offers real-time updates on Italian and Schengen visa policies, digital document checks, and application management tools. The platform’s dedicated Italy page (https://www.visahq.com/italy/) lets HR teams track multiple filings, verify eligibility against evolving safe-country lists, and secure the right permits quickly—helping businesses stay compliant while the EU fine-tunes its migration architecture.
For companies, the meeting signals that the EU’s long-stalled Pact on Migration and Asylum is finally moving again. If the returns and safe-country rules are adopted, HR teams can expect a more predictable Schengen environment, quicker decisions on asylum backlogs and fewer ad-hoc internal border checks that disrupt business travel. However, timelines are tight and political campaigning for the 2026 European elections could yet delay the package. Mobility managers should monitor Council working-group calendars and prepare for a possible phasing-in of the new rules as early as Q4 2026.
