Joint efforts to tackle irregular migration - in particular along the Balkan route - was one of the central themes discussed by Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani during a visit to Croatia and Slovenia last week.
Hans Leijtens takes over as executive director of Frontex in March, as the EU's border agency is struggling to defend its credibility. Will he be able to deliver?
Italy's institutions and political leaders have expressed sorrow following a deadly migrant shipwreck off Calabria, starting with President Sergio Mattarella.
Nearly one million asylum claims were lodged in the EU, Switzerland and Norway last year, the most since 2016. Syrians and Afghans remained the main applicants, while claims from Turkish nationals more than doubled.
The second European Conference on Border Management will take place in Athens, Greece, on February 23-24, as announced by the Greek Ministry of Migration and Asylum.
The body of an Ethiopian woman was found in the forest in the Polish-Belarusian border area at the weekend. Poland's Human Rights Commissioner is examining a complaint over her death, the fifth in the border region in less than two months.
Last week's European Council meeting has given a "new gift" to human traffickers, according to Italian associations promoting migrant rights. The organizations said defending the European Union's external borders is not incompatible with a more humane and effective asylum system respecting the principle of solidarity.
NGOs working on the Balkan route compare the idea of setting up defensive walls against migrants to Brexit, a decision that brought back to Europe the concept of borders. A wall is not sufficient to stop the flow of migrants, just like water finds its way, they said.
The EU has managed to decide on a series of new policies aimed at curbing irregular migration. However, the impact of those policies is likely going to be limited, with the focus on economic migration rather than addressing the root causes of migration.
A big step up in requests for asylum last year has put one of the EU's touchiest issues, migration, back in the limelight. One idea is to leverage visa, aid and trade policy to get third countries to take back deportees.
Bulgaria has again faced accusations that its border authorities have subjected migrants to beatings, humiliation and racist language. Bulgarian authorities have denied the allegations.
Over the last two years the number of people leaving Tunisia by boat to reach Italy has been increasing. Despite evidence that the North African country is not a safe country, the European Union tends to claim the opposite in order to justify the outsourcing of its migration policies, according to a report released last month by Civil MRCC.