After three years of negotiations, the European Parliament and Council have reached a political agreement on the Pact on Migration and Asylum. Today’s agreement is a major breakthrough towards a common system for managing migration in the EU.
In the hours before the vote, one political group leader after another, and the law’s negotiators, repeatedly appealed to the MEPs’ sense of responsibility, to deliver for citizens, after almost ten years of deadlock, a reform of the bloc’s migration and asylum seekers’ entrance procedures.
The voting session had barely started when a visitors group erupted, chanting “This Pact kills, vote no”, stopping the session, repeating the calls from several NGOs, worried that the texts did not protect human lives and fundamental rights well enough.
Most of the files passed with a tight majority of around 50 votes. Those related to the registration of people’s information at the border, the database, and the return policy, were overwhelmingly supported, with more than 400 votes in favour, and around 200 against.
The agreement covers five key proposals of the Pact:
- Screening Regulation: Creating uniform rules concerning the identification of non-EU nationals upon their arrival, thus increasing security in the Schengen area.
- Eurodac Regulation: Developing a common database, gathering more accurate and complete data to detect unauthorised movements
- Asylum Procedures Regulation: Making asylum, return and border procedures quicker and more effective
- Asylum Migration Management Regulation: Establishing a new solidarity mechanism amongst Member States, to balance the current system where a few countries are responsible for most asylum applications, and clear rules on responsibility for asylum applications
- Crisis and Force majeure Regulation: Ensuring that the EU is prepared in the future to face situations of crisis, including the instrumentalisation of migrants.
The Pact aims to guarantee the protection of the EU borders. It fills an important gap by establishing a common and comprehensive policy for the orderly management of migration in the EU. It also introduces an external dimension to migration management, so that the EU can pursue its work together with international partners and third countries.
The agreement also protects the right to apply for asylum. Aside the enhancement of border management, it improves asylum procedures and reception, thus ensuring better protection of the individuals applying for international protection in the EU. Moreover, it is a relief for local communities – on the Greek islands, in Cyprus, Lampedusa, and the Canary Islands, among others – while also addressing the specific needs of all Member States.
The text will now be passed on to member states in the Council, who are scheduled to vote on 29 April via qualified majority.
“Now, we must make sure that what has been agreed to is fully implemented in all our member States, and that implementation goes hand in hand with the respect for our shared humanity,” Parliament’s President Roberta Metsola said after the vote.
