The European Union has put an end to long years of debates and negotiations around the migration issue. This Tuesday, May 14, at the Council of the EU, a vast reform of the European migration system was definitively adopted.
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EU countries gave their final green light on Tuesday to the pact on migration and asylum, a vast reform which toughens immigration control in Europe, but some of them are already calling for more. far. Less than a month before the European elections for which polls predict a surge in anti-immigration parties, this set of around ten pieces of legislation, fiercely negotiated for years, was formally adopted by the Council of the EU (representing Member States). Parliament gave its approval in April.
Hungary and Poland voted against all texts, which were adopted by qualified majority (55% of member states representing at least 65% of the EU population). Austria and Slovakia voted against some. The reform sets up a procedure of “ filtering » migrants at EU borders to identify them and more quickly distinguish those who have a chance of obtaining asylum from those who are likely to be returned to their country of origin. It also establishes a solidarity mechanism between the 27 countries in the care of asylum seekers.
Increase in asylum applications
This pact is based on a Commission proposal presented in September 2020, after the failure of a previous attempt at reform during the 2015-2016 refugee crisis. Alongside this reform, which will only apply in 2026, the EU is increasing the number of controversial agreements with the countries of origin and transit of exiles (Tunisia, Mauritania, Egypt) to try to reduce the number of arrived at its borders.
The EU, which also hosts more than four million Ukrainian refugees, is facing an increase in asylum applications, which reached 1.14 million in 2023, their highest level since 2016, according to the European Agency for asylum. The entrees ” irregular » in the EU are also increasing, to 380,000 in 2023, according to Frontex.
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A “ border procedure » is planned for those who statistically have the least chance of obtaining asylum: they will be held in centers while their file is examined, a maximum of six months. Other asylum seekers will follow the standard procedure. Human rights organizations, as well as left-wing and environmentalist elected officials, have continued to denounce this pact, criticizing the possibility of detaining families with children and a ” criminalization » of the exiles. Conversely, the far right denounced the “ weakness » of the reform.
A lot of questions
The current rule according to which a migrant’s first country of entry into the EU is responsible for their asylum application is maintained with some adjustments. But to help countries where many exiles arrive, such as Italy, Greece or Spain, a compulsory solidarity system is organized. Other Member States must welcome a certain number of asylum seekers or make a contribution – financial or material – for the benefit of the country under migratory pressure.
The pact will be binding on all EU countries, under penalty of infringement procedures. But the details of the practical implementation of this complex reform remain to be clarified. And Member States have already signaled their desire to go further in outsourcing migration management.
Italy recently concluded an agreement with Albania to send migrants rescued in Italian waters to this EU candidate country, so that their asylum requests can be processed there. A group of countries, led by Denmark and the Czech Republic, are preparing to send a letter in which they plead to transfer migrants out of the EU. These new proposals, the final version of which has not been revealed, are intended for the next Commission, which will take office after the Europeans.
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That ” asks a lot of questions about the type of model possible. Particularly because it will have to be aligned with European texts », Underlines Camille Le Coz, associate director at the Migration Policy Institute Europe think tank. European law provides that an immigrant arriving in the EU can be sent to a country outside the bloc where they could have requested asylum, provided they have a sufficient link with this third country. Which excludes at this stage a United Kingdom-Rwanda type model.
“ What will have to be clarified is, on the one hand, the modalities » of these outsourcing proposals, continues the expert. “ And on the other hand with whom the European authorities work, which third states », she underlines, noting also that the dissuasive nature of such solutions on immigration has so far not been demonstrated.