Speaking at the Munich Migration Meeting on 26 September, Belgian Asylum and Migration Minister Anneleen Van Bossuyt (N-VA) urged her 17 European counterparts to grant the EU’s border agency Frontex greater operational powers and funding. Europe “must be able to act more quickly and more firmly at its external borders,” she said, arguing that weak controls fuel irregular crossings and undermine public confidence in the new EU Pact on Migration and Asylum that entered into force in June. Van Bossuyt called for a one-year review of the Pact in June 2027 to identify bottlenecks and simplify procedures. She also pressed for more effective returns of third-country nationals with no right to remain, suggesting the EU should leverage trade preferences, visas and development aid to persuade origin states to cooperate. For Belgium the stakes are tangible: the federal reception network for asylum seekers has been operating beyond capacity since 2025, forcing the government to rent hotel rooms and triggering domestic political friction. Van Bossuyt’s intervention positions Belgium as a hawkish voice in forthcoming Commission discussions on a Frontex reform package due in October. Corporate mobility programmes are unlikely to face immediate rule changes, but tighter external controls could lengthen queues at land and sea borders for business travellers from non-EU countries. Companies should monitor whether the Commission’s October proposal alters visa-code reciprocity mechanisms, as Belgium could press to link short-stay visa facilitation to cooperation on returns. The minister’s stance also signals that, despite being home to EU institutions, Belgium will not automatically align with more liberal migration blocs. Mobility managers should expect stricter due-diligence questions when sponsoring humanitarian or study visas, especially for nationals of countries with low return rates.
Source: The Brussels Times
