European Union countries plus Norway and Switzerland saw a 10 percent drop in international protection requests in 2018 compared with 2017. The EU border agency, Frontex, also says arrivals via the Central Mediterranean route in January were 73 percent down on the previous month.
The European Union has signed an agreement with Montenegro for border management of migrant flows in the Balkans area.
Germany is suspending participation in Operation Sophia, the EU naval mission targeting human trafficking in the Mediterranean. The decision reportedly relates to Italy's reluctance to allow rescued people to disembark.
Populist anti-immigration parties have gained strength in many European countries following a massive influx of migration into the EU. The bloc's border agency says illegal arrivals in 2018 fell to around 150,000 people.
It has been 34 years since the Schengen agreement removed most internal border checks in the EU, and nearly three decades since the Berlin wall fell. The feeling is that, for those inside it, Europe is open, but is that really true? A new study points out we have more walls than before.
Illegal border crossings have continued to drop, putting this year's rate on track to be the lowest since 2013, Frontex has said. Despite this, an EU dispute over the arrivals continues to feed anti-migrant sentiment.
Nearly 12,900 migrants arrived in the EU in September, with more than half of those - 6,500 - arriving in Spain, four times more than September of last year, according to EU border agency Frontex. It said during the first nine months of the year, arrivals to Italy dropped by 85% and by one-third across the EU.
The European Union and Albania have signed an agreement on border management. The accord reached between the Albanian Interior Ministry and EU border agency Frontex is the first signed with a third country.
At the informal EU summit held in Salzburg on Friday, the 27 member states were unable to reach an agreement on immigration, and seem farther away than ever from an accord.
Italian Premier Giuseppe Conte and Austrian Chancellor Sebastian Kurz highlighted the need for reforms to EU border agency Frontex and its anti-human trafficking military mission in the Mediterranean, Operation Sophia. The leaders emphasised the necessity of a European solution to migratory flows.
The number of migrant arrivals to Italy has dropped significantly, while the number of migrants arriving in Spain have doubled, making it now the top port for migrant arrivals, followed by Greece.
Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban has criticized the European Union of wanting to take away Hungary's control of its own frontiers. The accusations come after the EU shared plans to expand its external border agency, Frontex.