​On 15 March, the Portuguese Presidency held a joint meeting of the Ministers of Home Affairs and Foreign Affairs, a format that had not been brought together for six years. The initiative was unanimously welcomed and considered to be highly timely given the growing relevance of migration in the context of the Union's external relations.

Member States, along with the European Commission and the European External Action Service have agreed, in the spirit of Team Europe, to move towards strengthening mutually beneficial partnerships with third countries of origin, transit and destination, contributing to combat human trafficking and migrant smuggling, addressing the root causes of irregular immigration, improving cooperation on return and readmission, and promoting legal migration routes to Europe.

Work on improving the existing level of cooperation, including on return and readmission, will be carried out through a comprehensive dialogue at the highest level with partners, in a perspective of enhanced support combining development, trade and visa cooperation and making use of all instruments and resources at the EU's disposal.

The PPEU Initiative to establish a dialogue with North African countries covering a broad range of justice and home affairs issues was also presented and strongly supported, and discussions are now continuing with a view to its implementation.

The Press Conference at the end of the meeting can be viewed at: https://audiovisual.ec.europa.eu/en/video/I-203200

FOTOGRAFIA. 2021.03.15 - Informal video conference of Foreign and Home Affairs Ministers. © European Union 2021​