The European Parliament has approved a major reform tightening the EU’s migration and asylum rules, known as the EU Asylum and Migration Pact.
The pact, which will come into force in two years, aims to speed up the asylum process and boost the return of irregular migrants to home countries.
It requires EU member states to share responsibility for asylum seekers. Last year saw 380,000 people illegally crossing the EU’s borders, the highest number since 2016. The EU said the pact combined “mandatory solidarity” between member states with flexibility.
The proposed rules require the EU’s 27 countries to either take in thousands of migrants from “frontline” countries or provide extra funding or resources instead. The pact also says that asylum claims with “low chances of being accepted” should be examined rapidly, without necessarily admitting the applicant into EU territory. The agreement aims to deal with asylum requests within a maximum of 12 weeks, with asylum seekers having to be returned forcibly to their home country within the same period.
German Chancellor Olaf Scholz praised the pact as a “historic, indispensable step” and praised it as a “balance between solidarity and responsibility.”
However, left-wing and far-right groups opposed the agreement, with Amnesty International warning it would lead to a “surge in suffering” for asylum seekers.
