On Wednesday 30 September 2026, Luxembourg non-profit organisation Association de Soutien aux Travailleurs Immigrés (ASTI – Association for the Support of Immigrant Workers) issued a statement ahead of the meeting of EU interior ministers, which will take place in Luxembourg on Thursday 1 October.
ASTI said that the meeting, which will involve discussions on immigration subjects such as returns, cooperation with third countries and the implementation of the European Pact on Migration and Asylum, takes place against the backdrop of an increasingly established trend: the continuous tightening of European migration policies.
ASTI remarked: “An unfortunate coincidence: on that same 1 October, Luxembourg will change its own immigration procedures. Third-country nationals wishing to settle in Luxembourg will henceforth have to submit their first application for a long-stay visa in person at a Luxembourg diplomatic mission or, failing that, at the competent Belgian mission. Presented as a simplification and European harmonisation measure, this reform could nevertheless make access to legal migration more difficult in practice, particularly for people living in countries where the relevant diplomatic network is not easily accessible. Sometimes considerable travel, additional costs and the requirement to appear in person can turn an administrative change into a genuine obstacle.”
The non-profit organisation argues that for years, the European Union has been strengthening its external borders, accelerating returns and increasingly outsourcing migration controls to third countries. Yet this “Fortress Europe” approach has neither made migration nor migrant-smuggling networks disappear. Above all, it has contributed to making migration routes increasingly dangerous.
ASTI stressed: “If the European Union genuinely wants to combat criminal networks and reduce irregular immigration, it must also offer alternatives. This means developing safe and legal pathways for work, study, family reunification and international protection.
It is therefore particularly contradictory to seek to combat irregular immigration while, at the same time, making regular pathways more difficult to access.”
ASTI highlighted its concern about a “logic of escalation” in which European governments, in response to the rise of the far right, are gradually adopting its framing and priorities on migration. The association suggested that recent experience in several European countries should prompt reflection on this strategy rather than its intensification.
“Luxembourg and the European Union need a different approach: a realistic migration policy based on facts rather than fears, one that takes economic and demographic needs into account, develops safe and legal pathways and guarantees protection for those who need it. As human history shows, migration has always existed and always will. Fundamental rights are not an obstacle to migration policy. They must be its starting point,” urged ASTI.
