3.14.1.1. Annual pledging exercise 

Following the High-Level Forum on Legal Pathways to Protection and Resettlement Cooperation held at the end of November 2022, the European Commission published the breakdown of resettlement and humanitarian admission pledges. In total, 17 EU countries committed to receive around 29,000 refugees as part of their national programmes in 2023.949 The vast majority of the pledges were made by Germany (6,500 resettlements and 12,000 humanitarian admissions), followed by France (3,000 resettlements) and, to a smaller scale, by Spain (1,200 resettlements) and Finland (1,050 resettlements).950 Sweden reduced its annual quota for 2023 and pledged to receive 900 refugees, compared to the 5,000 pledged in previous years since 2018.951  

In May 2023, the European Commission kicked off the new pledging exercise but this time for a 2-year period (2024 and 2025), inviting countries to submit their national commitments. At the Global Refugee Forum in December 2023, the European Commission announced 61,000 new places as pledged by EU countries for resettlement and humanitarian admissions in 2024 and 2025. Of these, 31,000 are for resettlement, to be implemented in close cooperation with UNHCR, and 30,000 are pledges for humanitarian admissions.952  

Slightly fewer – 14 EU countries – pledged to receive refugees in 2024, with notable changes.953 For example, under the new migration and asylum policy of the new Finnish government, the parliament decreased the pledge from 1,050 refugees in 2023 to 500 refugees per year for the next 4 years, with priority given to children, women and persons with disabilities.954 The Swedish government continued to pledge a quota of 900 refugees for 2024.955  

Spain introduced humanitarian admission pledges for the first time. The Spanish government committed to receive 3,400 people under humanitarian admission programmes for 2024 and 2025, in addition to the yearly quota of 1,200 places under resettlement programmes.956  

Together, 45 civil society organisations called leaders of EU Member States to ambitiously expand safe pathways to international protection and step up resettlement efforts.957  

Outside of the EU commitments, Norway and Switzerland also committed to resettling refugees. Norway decided to resettle 1,000 refugees in 2024, which is 1,000 less than in 2023. However, 247 places from the 2023 quota were transferred to 2024, meaning that the total quota for 2024 is 1,247. Although Switzerland suspended all operations related to resettlement in April 2023 due to the pressure on its asylum system, the Federal Council still approved a new resettlement programme for 2024 and 2025 to admit 1,600 refugees. Implementation of this programme will depend on the number of spontaneous arrivals and reception capacities in the cantons.958