The new European Pact on Migration and Asylum, which was accepted by the twenty-seven EU Member States last December, will be put to a vote so that it can be approved. The debate to approve the ten bills that will update the previous agreement will begin this Wednesday, April 10, in the European Parliament. Voting for the document to pass its final examination is scheduled to end on Thursday, April 11.
There will be two days of intense discussions, but not only in Brussels. And the fact is that numerous associations and organizations have been mobilizing for approximately a week, and will continue to do so days after the vote. They all share the same vision: the new European Pact on Migration and Asylum will offer European governments 'solidarity à la carte' with which they will be able to avoid the reception of people who arrive in their territories or others in the European Union. in exchange for paying compensation. They consider that it is a regulation “contrary to human rights.”
The vote on the new agreement on migration means putting an end to the work that the twenty-seven Member States and the European institutions have been doing throughout this mandate, which will end on June 9, when citizens will go to the polls to elect the next Parliament. According to what they defend from Brussels, it is a pact that “seeks to improve cooperation between European countries and improve the EU's response in cases of crisis.”
A European milestone
The agreement reached at the end of 2023 was a decisive step in this matter. And, once the text is approved by the political leaders, the EU will have a common migration policy for the first time in its history. The three main objectives of this new pact are: strengthening external borders, reaching agreements with third countries (from where migrant remittances usually leave) to stop irregular arrivals and accelerate deportations.
These three points are also the ones that have generated the most debate and anger among the different organizations that try to help migrants. They consider, as explained by the Alternativas Foundation in the 'Africa 2024' report, that it will allow member states not to have to assume the quota of irregular foreigners that the EU demands in times of crisis in exchange for paying a kind of fine. This, according to what they denounce, will mean that the main receiving countries will continue to assume a greater number of people arriving through different routes, while others will not have to assume this responsibility in exchange for financial compensation.
Furthermore, they consider that it is “an attack on human rights” and that it will have “catastrophic consequences for the lives of millions of people, families, children” who are fleeing wars, poverty, the effects of climate change or genocides. “It is clearer than ever that this EU Pact on Migration and Asylum will set back European asylum laws for decades, cause greater suffering and put more people at risk of human rights violations every step of the way.” », they explain from Amnesty International.
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