Like Lithuania, Estonia is faced with a choice – to accept 79 asylum seekers, send experts to work in southern European countries or pay a solidarity payment of 1.7 million euros, writes ERR News.
In 2024, European Union countries agreed on a new migration package, which also includes the proportional placement of 300,000 migrants, mainly from the Middle East and North Africa, in the bloc’s countries. Currently, migrants in the EU Mediterranean countries of Italy, Greece, Spain, Cyprus and Malta are waiting for their asylum applications to be processed, and this means that southern European countries are feeling a significant migration burden.
Janek Mägi, head of the Border Guard and Migration Department of the Estonian Ministry of the Interior, told ERR that there are three options: to accept asylum seekers, send helpers to southern Europe or pay a fine. The proposed options can also be combined, rather than choosing strictly one.
Other countries in our region are also faced with similar choices. For example, Lithuania must accept 158 asylum seekers or pay three million euros. In turn, the European Commission will pay a support payment of 10,000 euros for each refugee accepted.
Mägi noted that
the EC will decide on the placement of asylum seekers next year,
and everything depends on how many people will need to be relocated at that time, for example, from Italy. If the need arises, the EC will first address the bloc’s countries to voluntarily apply to accept asylum seekers. If Estonia decides not to accept migrants, it will be possible to send specialists to work in Southern Europe instead to facilitate the process of processing migrant data. These could be, for example, border guards or specialists to work in a reception center.
If Estonia does not choose any of these options, then the option of paying the so-called solidarity payment of 1.7 million euros will remain.
The EC determines both the number of asylum seekers to be admitted and the possible amount of the solidarity payment for each country separately, based on a previously agreed upon mathematical formula to be used. The EC is also planning to relocate 300,000 people in 2027, which means that Estonia will face the same choice next year. It is believed that the solidarity process will be implemented in each of the coming years, and the refusal to admit migrants will most likely mean that
each subsequent year there will be both a larger number of people and a larger solidarity payment.
Mägi indicated that the government will make a decision by the end of the year. He added that the Ministry of the Interior is currently leaning in favor of sending specialists to Southern Europe. “So far we have helped with our officials, helped to carry out procedures and also helped with our equipment. Our continued preference would be to contribute with aid on the spot, as the problem is most reasonably solved on the spot. Our second preference would be to combine all three of the measure,” Mägi indicated.
The official also added that sending specialists to Southern Europe provides an opportunity to gain experience that Estonia does not have.
The EC is scheduled to make a broader offer to Estonia and other EU countries on October 15, and then it will also be clear which countries will have to get more involved. If asylum seekers do arrive in Estonia, it will only happen in 2027 or, at the earliest, in the second half of 2026.
According to data from the EU Asylum Agency, 64,000 applications for asylum were registered in the EU in May 2025, which is a decrease compared to 2024. Most asylum seekers come from Syria, Afghanistan, Venezuela, Turkey and Colombia.
Read also: Lithuania faces a choice: accept asylum seekers or face EU fines