Netherlands classified as "at risk" for migration pressure under new EU report

The European Commission has identified the Netherlands as a country at risk of high migration pressure. This assessment comes from the Commission’s annual European asylum and migration report, covering migration flows to the EU from July 2024 to June 2025.

The report’s risk analysis takes into account the number of migrants, asylum applications, GDP, and population size of each EU member state. The Netherlands is classified as having a risk of migration pressure, alongside Belgium, Germany, France, Poland, and Ireland.

In countries in this category, there are high numbers of migrants, strained reception systems, or even instances of migration being used as a political tool, as happened in Poland for a time.

Being classified in this category allows the Netherlands to draw on resources such as financial support from the EU’s “toolbox,” which is part of the migration pact set to take effect in June.

Greece, Spain, Italy, and Cyprus are classified as experiencing migration pressure because of the large influx of migrants. These countries will soon be eligible for the EU’s relocation mechanism, which allows other member states to take in some of the migrants.

European Commissioner for Migration, Magnus Brunner, has put forward a proposal for the relocation mechanism, but has not disclosed how many migrants each member state would be expected to host on behalf of another EU country. He has left the details for the member states to decide.

The Netherlands, Belgium, Germany, Sweden, and Finland have previously stated that they would back a relocation mechanism only if the Dublin rules are more rigorously enforced. Under these rules, the EU country where an asylum seeker first submits their application is responsible for handling it.

According to the Commission, illegal crossings into the EU have decreased by 35 percent. Nonetheless, Brussels continues to view this as a serious issue, alongside the reception of Ukrainians and collaboration with neighboring countries to accommodate migrants. The Commission also notes that member states are still lagging in implementing stricter asylum and migration rules.