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41 European leaders, including Mitsotakis and Christodoulides, back joint statement on illegal migration

A joint statement issued by the UK, Denmark and Italy was endorsed by 41 leaders in Dublin, including the leaders of Greece and Cyprus, with seven priorities from early warning systems to returns.

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2 min read

Photo: 10 Downing Street, the office that published the statement (file image)

Leaders attending the European Political Community summit in Dublin on 12 November endorsed a joint statement on illegal migration issued by the United Kingdom, Denmark and Italy. According to the UK Prime Minister’s Office, which published the text on 13 November, 41 leaders backed it, among them Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis and Cypriot President Nikos Christodoulides.

The statement says the signatories are committed to “sustain the reduction in illegal migration into and across Europe” and acknowledge the shared challenge it poses. It points to ongoing global instability, hybrid threats, including the instrumentalisation of migration, and the exploitation of vulnerable people by smuggling gangs. Building on the priorities set out at the previous summit in Yerevan, leaders called for a more comprehensive, systematic, whole-of-route approach to countering illegal migration and the criminality that facilitates it.

The seven points leaders agreed on

  • Preparedness and response. Early warning systems to predict and manage flows and spot emerging security risks, plus new tools to respond to extraordinary threats to border integrity.
  • Tackling disinformation. European countries should expose the dangers of illegal crossings and counter false narratives.
  • Innovation. Partners should align efforts as new approaches are developed, tested and pursued.
  • Working upstream. Supporting migrants and countries of origin and transit so that people stay safer closer to home, alongside skills development, job creation and partnerships.
  • Returns and readmission. Closer cooperation with countries of origin and transit, using available tools and incentives, so that people without a right to stay can be returned in accordance with international law.
  • Information sharing. More seamless and systematic exchange of information across borders to keep pace with smuggling networks.
  • International conventions. Seventy-five years after the Refugee Convention was adopted, and recalling the May 2026 Chisinau Declaration on the ECHR and migration, leaders stressed that conventions must keep meeting modern challenges, including by supporting UNHCR, IOM and other international organisations.

Who signed and what comes next

The published text names, among others, Prime Ministers Meloni, Frederiksen, Burnham, Tusk and Orpo, Chancellor Merz, as well as Mitsotakis and Christodoulides, Secretary General Berset and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen. The document commits the signatories to continued cooperation with the European Union and the Council of Europe.

Leaders agreed to keep up momentum toward “a sustained reduction in numbers” and to return to the subject at the next EPC summit, to be held in Switzerland. For background on the gathering itself, see our earlier report: European Political Community meets in Dublin: what the ninth EPC summit is and who attends.

European Union Greece Migration

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