The Council of Ministers of the European Union adopted the new Pact on Migration and Asylum.
A complete overhaul of the EU’s asylum and immigration system
The Council today adopted a total of 10 pieces of legislation reforming the entire European framework for asylum and migration management.
The Screening Regulation will allow national authorities to refer irregular migrants and asylum seekers at the external borders to the relevant procedure and ensure that identification, security and vulnerability checks and health assessment are carried out in a uniform manner.
The new rules on the updated Eurodac database will allow more accurate and comprehensive data (including biometric data) to be collected on different categories of migrants, including applicants for international protection and people arriving illegally EU. This will help inform policy-making and strengthen the control of irregular migration and unauthorized movements.
The Asylum Procedure Regulation streamlines the European asylum procedure and introduces a mandatory border procedure in clearly defined cases. The regulation on the return procedure at the border concerns the returns of persons whose application in this border procedure is rejected.
The Asylum and Migration Management Regulation determines which Member State is responsible for examining applications for international protection and for the first time introduces a fair sharing of responsibility between Member States. Thanks to the Crisis Regulation, the EU will be better equipped to handle asylum applications in exceptional circumstances.
At the same time, uniform rules are established for the criteria for granting international protection and the standards for the reception of asylum seekers. This should also help to reduce secondary movements between Member States.
Finally, the Resettlement Regulation focuses on legal and safe routes to the EU by establishing common rules on resettlement and humanitarian admission.
Border process
An important new feature of the reform is the mandatory border procedure. This procedure will apply to certain categories of asylum seekers (for example those from countries with low asylum recognition rates). The aim of the procedure is to quickly assess at the EU’s external borders whether applications are unfounded or inadmissible. People who are in the asylum procedure at the border are not allowed to enter the EU territory.
Responsibility and solidarity
The new rules clarify which Member State will be responsible for an asylum application (for example in cases where a person has a family member in an EU country or where the asylum application is not made in the country where the asylum seeker first arrives in the EU).
Another important aspect of immigration reform is the introduction of a solidarity mechanism to ensure a fairer distribution of responsibilities. The new rules combine mandatory solidarity to support member states facing a strong inflow of migrants with flexibility in the type of contributions. Member States’ contributions may consist of relocations, financial contributions or, where agreed with the beneficiary Member State, alternative solidarity measures (e.g. providing border guards or helping to develop reception centres).
Crisis management
To better deal with crisis situations (mass arrivals and instrumentalisation) and force majeure, Member States can deviate from certain rules and request enhanced solidarity from other EU countries. Possible derogations apply, for example, to the deadlines for registering asylum seekers and during the border procedure.
According to iefimerida, the crisis mechanism is used only in exceptional circumstances and for the time absolutely necessary to deal with crisis or force majeure situations, subject to the approval of the Council.
Next steps
Member states will now have two years to implement the laws adopted today. The European Commission will soon present a common implementation plan to assist Member States in this process.
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