Meeting in Brussels under the chairmanship of Deputy Minister for European Affairs Marilena Raouna, EU ministers adopted the work programme that the Cyprus Presidency will steer through June. The annotated agenda for the 19-20 March European Council confirms that migration, Schengen governance and external border funding remain top priorities alongside competitiveness and defence. At a practical level, VisaHQ’s Cyprus portal (https://www.visahq.com/cyprus/) can help businesses, NGOs and travellers keep pace with the new Schengen governance rules by providing up-to-date visa guidance, document checks and application filing services, ensuring compliance as the EU rolls out the Pact’s biometric and data-sharing systems. Cyprus used the 24 February session to brief partners on its plan to finalise the implementing acts of the New Migration & Asylum Pact before it enters into force in June. Officials said trilogues on the Screening and Eurodac regulations are "on schedule", while work is under way to operationalise the EU’s solidarity pool, which will allocate relocation quotas and return-support funds – a mechanism vital for frontline states such as Cyprus. Ministers also exchanged views over lunch on the launch of the European Centre for Democratic Resilience – part of the broader European Democracy Shield initiative. Although not directly a mobility file, the centre will host projects on countering disinformation that targets refugee movements and travel infrastructure. For relocation and mobility professionals, the Council conclusions hint at smoother intra-EU travel for non-EU assignees once screening procedures and common return standards are harmonised. Companies should anticipate updated IT systems – notably an expanded Eurodac database – and factor in extra data-protection steps when transferring employee biometrics after mid-2026.
