Who is Who - Who is Who in International Protection in the EU+: Policymaking Authorities

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Who is Who in International Protection in the EU+: Policymaking Authorities

The policymaking process covers a range of activities, including defining priorities, planning, preparing policy proposals and legal drafts, decision-making on secondary legislation, monitoring and evaluating the results.

The information in the map has been validated by each country, with the exception of Estonia and Hungary.

Overview of policymaking authorities

The data visualisation provides an overview of the ministries responsible for defining policies related to the international protection procedure. Hover over a country and “click for more” to view the following information for each policymaking authority:

Areas of competence (e.g. asylum, reception, migration, detention, return)
Organisational level (federal, national)
Role and competencies
Organisational structure (internal)
Legal basis
Hyperlinks to official websites and social media channels.

Issue No 2: Policymaking authorities in the EU+ (October 2024)

Key findings

Based on the comparative overview:

In the majority of EU+ countries, policymaking competencies related to asylum and reception fall under the Ministry of the Interior.
Denmark and Greece have established separate Ministries for Migration.
In Iceland, Ireland, Netherlands, Sweden and partly in Norway and Switzerland, the relevant competencies fall under the Ministries (or Departments) of Justice.
In Luxembourg, the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs is responsible for asylum and reception.
In 27 EU+ countries, ministries are competent for both asylum and reception procedures. In Iceland, Ireland and Spain, there are separate ministries for these areas.
In 26 EU+ countries, the ministries which are competent for international protection procedures are also responsible for detention and return. In Cyprus, Germany, Greece and partly Ireland (detention), the responsibility is shared with other ministries.