The European Parliament gives the green light to the Migration Pact. View approved laws

The European Parliament on Wednesday in Brussels narrowly approved reforms to EU migration and asylum policies.

Although the main parliamentary groups supporting reform, the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats), the Progressive Alliance Group of Socialists and Democrats and Europe Renewal, the Liberals, had 417 of the 705 MPs, the votes in favor averaged 300 in favor and 270 against.

A package of ten adopted laws establishes, in particular, tightening control over the arrival of migrants and a system for distributing refugees among 27.

The Migration and Asylum Pact was proposed by the European Commission in September 2020 and was the subject of discussion until December last year, covering in particular the screening of irregular migrants upon arrival in the EU, the collection of biometric data, asylum application procedures, rules defining, which Member State is responsible for requests and mechanisms for cooperation and solidarity in crisis situations.

These measures began to be discussed after the 2015 crisis caused by the civil wars in Syria and Iraq, when 1.8 million people applied for refugee status in the EU.

From crisis to crisis

There were 1.14 million asylum applications recorded in 2013, with Frontex, which coordinates Schengen border controls with member states, reporting a record level of illegal entry since 2016.

Last year, Frontex saved 43,000 people from the risk of shipwreck trying to reach Mediterranean countries, especially Italy, Malta and Greece, and returned 39,000 migrants to their countries of origin.

The International Organization for Migration, integrated into the UN system, in turn, has recorded a progressive increase in deaths from drowning in the Mediterranean since 2021: 2,048 people have died this year, 2,411 next year, and 3,041 in 2023.

More stringent rules

Testing of migrants is becoming mandatory at centers on the external border of the European Union, where asylum seekers will have to wait for the process to be completed.

The screening, which will take place over a maximum of seven days, includes identification, health and safety checks, as well as the collection of fingerprints and registration in a biometric database (Eurodac) for migrants aged 6 years and over.

Member states plan to create some 30,000 centers to accommodate up to 120,000 migrants a year.

The database files will include facial images, name, date of birth, nationality, date and place of application for international protection.

Unaccompanied minors are excluded from the screening process unless they pose a security risk.

Refugees from Ukraine enjoying temporary protection, which is 4.2 million people at the end of February this year, are not covered by these measures until March 4, 2025.

Transfer of an asylum seeker to a “safe third country” applies if it is considered that the person may have made a request for protection there.

A “sufficient connection” between the applicant and a “safe third country” is one of the criteria for transfer to states that must guarantee the life and liberty of the migrant.

The approved Asylum Procedures Bill allows for accelerated assessments of a maximum of 12 weeks.

This procedure applies to migrants who pose a threat to national security, whether they come from countries with few approved applications, such as Morocco, Pakistan or India, or have provided false information.

According to this law, migrants are detained in control centers on the external border of the European Union.

The legislation also aims to strengthen cooperation with source and transit countries such as Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro, Serbia and North Macedonia in combating human trafficking.

Agreements are in place with Mauritania, Tunisia and Egypt to prevent clandestine travel to the EU, and Albania has agreed that screening of illegal migrants detained in Italy will take place on its territory.

Moving and fines

The responsibility for reviewing this process lies with the EU accession country, as first established in the 1990 Dublin Agreement, which came into force in 1997.

However, in order to alleviate migration pressure on other member states, the so-called mandatory solidarity mechanism comes into force, but in fact it is voluntary in terms of admission.

The principle of resettlement implies that other Member States welcome asylum seekers and/or provide financial, material or personnel assistance.

The council plans a minimum of 30,000 relocations annually, and countries that do not agree to resettle asylum seekers will have to pay financial compensation of 20,000 euros per person to a fund managed by the European Commission designed to finance projects related to migration management.

The minimum annual amount of financial contributions from states less exposed to migration pressure should be 600 million euros, and this amount may increase in years of crisis.

The European Council is responsible for approving exceptional measures or requests for exceptional support for solidarity in crisis situations, including encouraging migration flows through third countries in an attempt to destabilize the EU.

Emergency measures include extending the period of detention of migrants at the external borders of the EU, speeding up and simplifying the processing of asylum applications.

The official adoption of the Pact by a qualified majority will take place in a vote scheduled for April 29 in the European Council.

According to the European Commission, the entry into force of the Pact will take about two years.