We caught up with Tamás Molnár, Senior Legal Researcher and Project Manager at the EU Agency for Fundamental Rights (FRA), which plays a key role in monitoring how EU Member States are implementing the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum as the June 2026 deadline approaches.
Following concerted advocacy efforts, the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum now requires all EU Member States to identify indications of statelessness and strengthen protection for stateless people. In your view, why is this explicit inclusion of statelessness in the asylum acquis so important to the functioning of the Common European Asylum System?
Many stateless people fall through gaps in legal and administrative procedures, including in asylum procedures. Unlike refugees, stateless individuals (who are also in need of international protection) are not always protected by EU asylum law. But they often face similar risks: lack of legal identity, limited access to rights, excessive detention, and prolonged uncertainty about their status. By requiring Member States to identify indications of statelessness, the Pact helps ensure that this vulnerable group is not overlooked during asylum procedures in different ways.
Firstly, systematic identification of statelessness improves fairness and accuracy in asylum decision-making and prevents wrongful – and prolonged – detention or return.
Secondly, establishing common obligations for Member States encourages more uniform standards of protection throughout the EU.
Thirdly, recognising statelessness as an issue to tackle on its own right also under EU law strengthens fundamental rights protections and aligns EU law with Member States’ obligations under international law, notably the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons.
Overall, by requiring all Member States to identify and record indications of statelessness, the Pact addresses a long-standing blind spot that left stateless people in legal limbo, moving between asylum, return, and detention procedures without a legal status or any realistic prospect of removal.
We are fast approaching the June 2026 deadline for Member States to implement the Pact. How do you assess progress so far in implementing the new statelessness provisions specifically? What more can the European Commission, EU agencies, and other relevant stakeholders do to support this?
Progress is advancing but remains uneven across Member States. Several National Implementation Plans refer to more comprehensive vulnerability assessments and data‑collection, but only a few set -out concrete protocols, procedures, or training activities on identifying and recording statelessness as the Pact requires.
The European Commission is currently working on various non-legally binding guidance documents, to make the application of the new EU rules on screening, asylum and return border procedures smoother and more integrated. These should also give more detailed guidance on how to operationalise the new statelessness-related legal provisions under the Pact.
Stepping up training and capacity building in this area is also key. The EU Asylum Agency is delivering targeted training programmes and webinars for national officials involved in the implementation of the Pact, which also help build the expertise needed to identify statelessness indicators in practice.
As explained further below, FRA is developing a manual, a common monitoring methodology for future independent national monitoring mechanisms under the Pact that will highlight how and what to monitor in relation to statelessness during screening and the asylum border procedure.
All this can help EU Member States move from paper compliance to consistent and converging national practices from June 2026.
FRA plays an important role in monitoring fundamental rights in the EU and implementation of the Pact specifically. Can you describe this role in brief and tell us how the Agency can work with others to ensure robust monitoring of Member States’ new obligations to identify and protect stateless people?
Monitoring compliance with fundamental rights is one of the promising aspects of the Pact. New rules under the Screening Regulation and the Asylum Procedure Regulation (APR) require Member States to have an independent mechanism to monitor compliance with fundamental rights during screening of new arrivals and assessment of asylum claims at external borders. To have this monitoring established in EU law is new.
Under the new provisions, FRA was tasked with issuing general guidance (published in September 2024) on how to set up independent national monitoring mechanisms. FRA can support Member States further in this area if requested, for example, with guidance and training.
FRA is also developing a manual to support fundamental rights monitors across the EU in their daily work. This manual touches on what to do when statelessness is identified in screening and the asylum border procedure. For example, indications of statelessness should trigger signposting or referral to a procedure to determine statelessness and so prevent people being deported to their country of origin or a ‘safe third country’ while their statelessness (or nationality) is determined.
In 2026, FRA plans to pilot the manual on common monitoring methodology in selected Member States.
In 2025, we updated our Statelessness Index Thematic Briefing on Statelessness Determination and Protection in Europe drawing on data from 35 countries to offer a roadmap for reform to improve access to protection for stateless people in Europe. How can the Pact leverage change in this area to incentivise more EU Member States to introduce (or improve) Statelessness Determination Procedures (SDPs)?
It is worth recalling what the new statelessness provisions in two of the Pact instruments provide for.
Firstly, the APR reminds Member States to “respect their international obligations towards stateless persons, in accordance with international human rights law instruments including where applicable under the [1954 Statelessness Convention]”, advising that they “should endeavour to identify stateless persons and strengthening their protection thus allowing stateless persons to enjoy core fundamental rights and reducing the risk of discrimination or unequal treatment”.
Secondly, the APR also provides for the consequence of identification of statelessness, stating that where an individual claims not to have a nationality, that fact must be clearly registered pending the determination of whether the individual is stateless (Article 27 (2)).
This cautious reference is the closest the Pact comes to requiring Member States to set up SDPs. But, the position of EU law on this point remains unclear. In other words, it resembles the “pas suspendu de la cigogne” (‘the suspended step of the stork’), from the great film by Theodoros Angelopoulos: one leg touches the ground, while the other hovers in mid‑air, not yet crossing the line into making SDPs mandatory. Still, once individuals are flagged as potentially stateless, Member States will need clear procedures to assess and resolve their status. So, the Pact creates a strong incentive for Member States to finally ‘cross the line’ and implement their 1954 Convention obligations.
Hopefully, Article 27(2) APR holds the buds that can and will blossom later.
At ENS, we greatly value our longstanding collaboration with FRA. Can you tell us a bit more about any tools that FRA has already developed that address statelessness, as well as any upcoming plans for more resources addressing this issue?
Let me highlight a few key FRA publications relevant to statelessness.
The Handbook on European law relating to asylum, borders and immigration, published jointly by FRA and the European Court of Human Rights supports national authorities in dealing with legal questions on asylum and migration. The 2020 edition contains an expanded section on statelessness. It is particularly useful for judges, prosecutors, border guards, immigration officials, lawyers, national human rights institutions, and civil society. The Handbook is now being updated in view of the legislative changes over the past six years, and the new updated version will be out this summer.
The Handbook on Guardianship, which is also being revised in light of the new Pact instruments strengthening guardianship systems for unaccompanied children, offers another example where statelessness can and will be usefully mainstreamed.
FRA’s permanent field presence in hotspots in Greece and Italy has provided valuable first-hand information on groups affected by statelessness (including Bidoons from Kuwait, Kurds from Syria, Palestinians on Greek islands).
Looking ahead, FRA’s role as an observer in onsite missions under the Schengen evaluation and monitoring mechanism can provide an important avenue for better mainstreaming the protection needs of stateless people, particularly in relation to screening and detention procedures.
In these challenging times, what keeps you feeling hopeful?
Even in challenging times, there are reasons for optimism. Eleanor Roosevelt, often described as the mother of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, reminded us that “it is better to light a candle than curse the darkness.”
As a lawyer, I continue to believe in the power of the law. As an illustrative example, the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights provides an important additional layer of protection for stateless people. Many of the rights it enshrines apply to everyone, regardless of nationality or migration status. And, as mentioned earlier, the growing recognition of statelessness under EU law – in particular through the Pact on Migration and Asylum – marks important progress. The new requirement for Member States to identify indications of statelessness is a clear sign that the issue is gaining visibility at the EU level.
I am also encouraged by the strong cooperation among EU institutions, national authorities, international organisations such as UNHCR, and civil society networks like the European Network on Statelessness. This shared commitment to dialogue and practical solutions creates genuine opportunities to strengthen protection and ensure that the fundamental rights of stateless people are better recognised across Europe.
Ultimately, we already hold a candle in our hands – now it’s up to all of us to light it.
The views expressed in this interview entry are solely those of the interviewee and its content does not necessarily represent the views or the position of the European Union Agency for Fundamental Rights.
