The Council of the European Union has approved major changes to the EU’s migration and asylum system. The new pact sets rules to manage migrant arrivals, create uniform procedures, and share responsibilities fairly among member countries.
The goal is to make the asylum system more effective and to strengthen cooperation between EU countries.
An overhauled approach to migration management
The Council has approved ten legislative acts to improve the entire European framework on asylum and migration.
One law allows authorities to direct migrants and asylum borders to the right procedures. The updated Eurodac database will collect more accurate data on various categories of migrants.
The asylum procedure regulation will make the asylum process smoother and will require a mandatory border procedure in certain situations.
Mandatory border procedure and solidarity mechanism
A key part of the new reform is a mandatory border procedure for some asylum seekers. This procedure is meant to quickly assess if applications are not valid or cannot be accepted at the EU’s borders.
The new rules also include a solidarity mechanism to ensure that all member countries share the responsibility more fairly.
Countries can help by relocating asylum seekers, giving financial support, or providing other types of assistance.
Preparing for crisis situations and force majeure
The reform includes measures to handle emergencies, like large numbers of arrivals or special situations.
In these cases, member states can temporarily change some rules and ask for extra assistance from other EU countries.
This emergency plan needs approval from the Council and can only be used for as long as needed to manage the situation.
Outsourcing migration procedures to third countries
While the EU works on putting the new migration plan into action, some countries, like Czechia and Denmark, want to outsource migration procedures outside of the EU. They propose sending migrants to other countries before they reach the EU.
However, this plan faces challenges. Frontex, the EU’s border agency, cannot work outside EU borders, and there are concerns about using EU funding for this idea.
The proposal to outsource migration outside the EU has caused political disagreement.
Critics argued that it does not offer a united European solution and that center-right parties might be following far-right ideas.
In Germany, the government is split, with the Greens against it. However, the conservative CDU, which is popular in polls, supports this “Rwanda model” and has included it in their main party plans.
Implementing the pact and navigating political hurdles
The adoption of the EU’s migration and asylum pact is an important step toward a better and fairer European asylum system. The reform aims to manage migrant arrivals and create consistent procedures.
However, the idea of outsourcing migration outside the EU shows there are still challenges and political disagreements.
As countries work to follow the new pact, working closely with other countries will be essential to address the reasons behind irregular migration.