06
 Harmonised approach for resettlement and humanitarian admission

 

Political, operational and financial constraints limited developments in the area of resettlement and humanitarian admission during 2025. Factors which hindered the resettlement of refugees included:

  • questions related to the implementation of Pact provisions at the technical level, such as the storage and transfer of data using processes that are in line with the Eurodac regulation;

  • the volatile security and political situation in the Middle East which posed challenges at the operational level; and

  • the persistent strain on some reception systems in EU+ countries, which limited their capacity to receive resettled refugees.

As a consequence, out of a total of 61,000 pledges made by 14 countries under the 2024-2025 EU Resettlement and Humanitarian Admission scheme, only around 10,000 refugees arrived in EU+ countries in 2025, in addition to nearly 14,000 in 2024. After 10 years of Syrians being the most resettled citizenship, Afghans (2,900) ranked the first in 2025, followed by Syrians (1,800), Congolese (DR) (1,600) and Sudanese (1,400).

In December 2025, the Council approved the first Union Resettlement and Humanitarian Admission Biannual Plan for 2026-2027. Nine countries submitted pledges for a total of 10,430 places, which includes 8,330 resettlements and 2,100 humanitarian admissions. The significant reduction in national commitments echoed the general downscaling in admissions at the EU level.