EU members sign deal to overhaul asylum procedures
The deal will change the way asylum seekers are processed at the bloc’s borders and how they are relocated across Europe.
European Union ministers have agreed on a deal to review the bloc’s asylum procedures, which it has eluded for nearly 10 years, after 12 hours of negotiations to get the green light from frontline members Italy and Greece.
Home affairs ministers from the 27-member bloc reached a deal on Thursday that aims to end years of division dating back to 2015, when more than a million people, most of them fleeing the war in Syria, reached the EU.
“This is a great, great achievement, which shows that it is possible to work together on migration. We are so much stronger when we work together,” said EU Home Affairs Commissioner Ylva Johansson.
The new Asylum and Migration Management Regulation (AMMR) was set up to replace the current Dublin Regulation and change the way asylum seekers are processed at EU borders and how they are relocated across Europe.
The Dublin Regulation, an agreement originally signed in 1990 and revised three times, contains rules determining which Member State is responsible for examining an asylum application.
Brussels-based news outlet Politico EU reported that a coalition of about 10 states led by Italy blocked the deal until late Thursday, preventing the bloc from moving ahead with the reform without the consent of a country that has one of the highest numbers of asylum applications. receives. seekers in the EU.
Last-minute changes, including a reduction in the number of people each state would be responsible for and more flexible rules for returning people to countries outside the EU, paved the way for the deal to be finalized ahead of the EU elections in 2024.
New rules
Under the newly agreed terms, each country would be responsible for a certain number of people, but it would not be necessary to include them.
Countries unwilling to host irregular migrants and refugees could help their hostmates through equipment, staff or money – about 20,000 euros ($21,500) per person.
Italy, Greece and Malta had initially issued demands for the mandatory relocation of migrants from frontline countries.
The reform also introduces a new fast-track border procedure for those deemed unlikely to be granted asylum, to avoid remaining within the bloc for years to come.
Poland and Hungary opposed the deal, saying the bloc’s national leaders would have to return to the matter when they meet later in June, but were overruled by the majority.
‘Unacceptable’
Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs on Friday quoted Prime Minister Viktor Orban as saying the deal was “unacceptable”.
“Brussels abuses its power. They want to move migrants to Hungary by force. This is not acceptable. They want to make Hungary a migrant country by force,” Kovacs wrote on Twitter.
The reception of immigrants has become an increasingly divisive issue in the bloc since 2015.
Countries on the southern edge of the EU have long asked for more help to cope with the large number of people arriving on their shores.
Wealthier countries, including Germany and Sweden, are hesitant about the number of asylum seekers moving to their territory.
Eastern EU countries such as Poland and Hungary have refused to take in anyone from the predominantly Muslim Middle East and North Africa, while right-wing and populist parties across the bloc have fueled debate with anti-immigration rhetoric.
Unable to agree on how to share responsibility, EU countries focused primarily on reducing arrivals, with UN data showing fewer than 160,000 people crossed the sea last year to a bloc of half a billion people.
In the same period, nearly 2,500 people died or went missing on the perilous crossing.