The European Parliament approved this Wednesday a broad reform of its immigration policy, the Migration and Asylum Pact, after a delicate negotiation of several years on an issue that caused obvious divisions in the bloc.
The controversial reform, which reinforces border controls and establishes a system of solidarity between member countries, received the support of the three main groups in Parliament, the Socialists and Democrats, the European People's Party (EPP, right) and the centrists of Renew Europe.
“We made history,” the president of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, congratulated on the X network shortly after the end of the voting.
History made.
We have delivered a robust legislative framework on how to deal with migration and asylum in the EU.
It has been more than ten years in the making. But we kept our word.
A balance between solidarity and responsibility.
This is the European way. pic.twitter.com/OW24Y8cv1k
— Roberta Metsola (@EP_President) April 10, 2024
“We have created a solid legislative framework on how to address migration and asylum in the EU. It has been more than ten years in the making. But we keep our word,” said the Maltese legislator.
The reform approved this Wednesday represents “a balance between solidarity and responsibility,” he indicated.
For her part, the European Commissioner for the Interior, Ylva Johansson, said that with the reform the EU “will be able to better defend our external borders.”
Also, he noted, it will be able to defend “the vulnerable and refugees, quickly return those who are not eligible to stay,” and at the same time implement “mandatory solidarity” among the bloc's states.
We have created a strong legislative framework on how to address migration and asylum in the EU. More than ten years have passed in its preparation. But we kept our word.
“Thank you for having the courage to reach an agreement,” Johansson said.
The voting session was briefly interrupted due to a noisy protest on the plenary steps, where activists shouted for MEPs to vote against the reform project.
“This pact kills! Vote NO!” they shouted.
The Left parliamentary group indicated on the X network that The approval of this reform marked “a dark day for human rights, but the fight for a more humane immigration policy does not end here.”
Mandatory solidarity
The central pillar of this proposal was launched by the European Commission (the executive arm of the EU) in 2020, in an attempt to bring together the positions of the different political groups.
So, The reform promotes a reinforcement of controls at the EU's external borders.
The reform establishes a mandatory procedure to control migrants arriving at the borders, where they must be registered to determine the applicable procedure.
The plan is that Asylum claims are examined quickly.
Thus, immigrants who are not accepted will be held in special reception centers while their file is determined in an accelerated manner, to proceed more quickly with the return of these people to their countries of origin.
Simultaneously, it determines the implementation of a mandatory solidarity system, as a way to help countries that receive many immigrants and asylum seekers, such as Italy, Greece or Spain.
In that way, Other States will have to receive asylum seekers on their territory or will have to provide financial support to countries under greatest migratory pressure.
These two aspects had become extremely sensitive topics after the 2015 migration crisis in the EU.
These new regulations on migration and asylum will not be applied until 2026, and for that the European Commission must present a detailed implementation program by June.
The EU has negotiated agreements with countries of origin and transit of migrants – such as Mauritania, Tunisia and Egypt – in an attempt to reduce the number of arrivals at the bloc's borders.
According to the EU Asylum Agency, applications for protection in 2023 reached 1.14 million in the bloc's countries (plus Norway and Switzerland), their highest level since 2016.
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