EU Migration Commissioner Magnus Brunner was speaking on the sidelines of his trip to Montenegro and Albania between February 4 and February 6.

"In 2025, the EU showed that we can deliver on migration," Commissioner Magnus Brunner said in an interview with Euronews Albania during his visit to the country. The interview was published on Feb 7.

"We are currently putting in place the biggest reform on migration and asylum in Europe," he said, referring to the rollout of the new pact which will begin later this year.

"These new rules also provide a framework for working on new ways to engage with partner countries on migration."

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'Migration does not start or end at EU borders'

"For me what is essential is that the EU starts to look beyond its borders and pursue a whole-of-route approach to migration, one that recognises that migration does not start nor end at EU borders and therefore has to take a more comprehensive approach," the former Austrian minister said, answering a question on whether he saw the Italy-Albania agreement as a model and a possible solution for migration management in other countries as well.

"This reform also includes new rules for people who have no right to stay in the EU. Last year, only one in five people who were ordered to leave actually returned. This is unacceptable. And that is also why we proposed an ambitious set of new rules, which were already endorsed by EU Member States."

Asked about Albanian cooperation with the EU on migration management, Brunner said: "The facts speak for themselves: a reduction of 95 percnt of illegal arrivals on the Western Balkan route, Albania being the first enlargement country to adopt in January 2026 a Schengen Action Plan, and implementing a roadmap for visa alignment in November 2025. All this commitment paves the way to EU accession and becoming part of the largest area of freedom of movement in the world."

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'Migration crisis behind us, illegal arrivals the priority'

Brunner also spoke to Italian daily Il Foglio, saying that "over the past two years, illegal border crossings dropped by 55 percent and asylum claims by 21 percent."

"The new entrance/exit system, which came into force in October," he added, "is the most advanced online border management system in the world. We have already recorded 23 million border crossings, and over 12,000 people have been stopped and rejected."

The European commissioner added that the "age of fragmentation and disorder that marked the migration crisis of 2015-2016 is now behind us. We have turned the page."

The challenge, Brunner continued, "now consists in consolidating this approach and in the issue of migration. Our top priority," he stressed, "is reducing the number of illegal arrivals and keeping it low."

Moreover, he continued, "we must also defend the EU's interests more decisively. For example, we expect third countries to readmit their citizens, as they are required to. Every year our member states issue 10 million visas to citizens of third countries. And we, the EU and its member states, are the top supplier of state aid worldwide, with over 90 billion euros per year."

In the future, he concluded, "the EU will strengthen the link between visas and cooperation -- not only as concerns readmission, but also border protection, security and the fight against migrant trafficking."

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