Slovak First State Secretary, Lucia Kurilovská, participated in the Justice and Home Affairs Council meeting held in Luxembourg on 1 October 2026, where discussions focused on Schengen governance, migration management, asylum and security cooperation.
Slovakia welcomed the presentation of the new Schengen Barometer but expressed concerns over the removal of indicators related to internal border controls and Schengen evaluations, arguing that the increasing number and prolonged duration of controls continue to undermine the proper functioning of the Schengen area and negatively affect EU citizens.
Slovakia also noted that six Schengen states have exceeded the maximum 2-year period for internal border controls and highlighted the importance of the European Commission's forthcoming assessment of their necessity and proportionality.
In the field of migration, Slovakia supported stronger cooperation with third countries on return and readmission, as well as regular Council discussions on countries that fail to cooperate effectively, while welcoming the possibility of establishing return centres outside the EU under the proposed return framework.
The country further underlined its active participation in the first round of EUAA monitoring aimed at assessing compliance with the Pact on Migration and Asylum, stressing that it has fulfilled all related obligations and stands ready to implement any resulting recommendations.
Regarding security, Slovakia emphasised the importance of continued EU-Ukraine cooperation, identifying the proliferation of firearms following the war as a major concern and supporting closer collaboration between Ukrainian authorities, EU institutions and Europol.
Finally, Slovakia took note of Greece's proposal to establish an emergency mechanism for responding to hybrid threats at the EU's external borders and welcomed Germany's efforts to strengthen resilience against hybrid threats through discussions held at the Baltic Sea Security Summit.
- Ministry of the Interior | Ministerstvo vnútra (1 October, 2026), Rada ministrov schválila nové návratové nariadenie, ktoré prispeje k zlepšeniu efektivity návratov osôb bez oprávnenia [The Council of Ministers approved a new return regulation that will contribute to improving the efficiency of returns of unauthorised persons],