The EU has approved a historic overhaul tightening EU’s migration and asylum rules.
Work on the Asylum and Migration pact has been ongoing since 2015. It will be effective in two years’ time. Designed to make the asylum process and boost the return of irregular migrants to their home countries, it will also require EU members to share the responsibility for asylum seekers.
In 2023, some 380,000 migrants crossed the EU borders irregularly.
The regional body announced that the pact combined “mandatory solidarity” between members with flexibility. However, some EU states are opposed to some parts of the agreement.
Under the proposed rules, the Eu’s 27 states will be required to take in thousands of migrants from countries close to the Mediterranean Sea, which constitute migrants’ first point of entry into Europe such as Italy, Greece and Spain. In the alternative, the EU states will provide extra funding or resources to the “frontline states.”
The pact also says asylum claimants with almost zero chances of being accepted should be examined rapidly and without necessarily accepting the applicant into Europe. The pact also aims to deal with asylum requests within 12 weeks.
If an asylum application is rejected, the concerned asylee will be forcibly returned to their home country within the same period.
Migrants will have to endure a toughened pre-entry screening procedure within seven days. It would include identification, health and security checks.
The Chancellor of Germany Olaf Scholz said, “It will not solve everything but it is 10 giant steps forward.”
The migration minister for Greece which is one of the countries worst affected by migrant arrivals, Dimitris Kairidis, said, “This is a major breakthrough and a very important step towards a common, and therefore more effective, management of the migration challenges of our time.”
However, Polish Prime Minister has said the idea of taking in some asylum seekers or paying into an EU fund for frontline states is “unacceptable.”
