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New pact takes effect
The European Union’s Migration and Asylum Pact entered into application on 12 June, overhauling the EU’s migration and asylum system with a package of 10 legislative acts covering screening and registering irregular arrivals at EU borders and swifter asylum and return procedures.
“What to know about the EU's new rules on migration and asylum The European Union is set to implement a new set of rules governing how each of its 27 member states will deal with irregular migration and asylum seekers BRUSSELS -- The European Union is set to implement a new set of rules Friday governing how each of its 27 member states will deal with irregular migration and asylum seekers”
Under the new rules, all irregular arrivals are subject to mandatory registration and identity checks, security, health and vulnerability assessments, with screening required to be completed in a limited timeframe before individuals are directed to the appropriate procedure.
The pact replaces the previously fragmented system with harmonised rules across the EU, including shorter time limits for asylum procedures and stricter rules for abusive or subsequent applications combined with improved tracking ability via the Eurodac database.
The EU’s solidarity mechanism is described as mandatory, flexible and needs-based, and the pact also includes a Crisis Regulation with procedures, operational support, and funding for emergencies such as sudden migratory surges or ‘force majeure’ events.
The EU’s migration chief Magnus Brunner said, “For the first time we have a comprehensive European system,” framing the reform as giving EU nations more control over comings and goings.
Screening, detention, returns
The pact’s border process is described as identity and security checks in a process lasting up to seven days, with identity documents and biometric readings of faces and fingerprints recorded in a database.
Asylum-seekers considered a security risk or with lower chances of receiving refugee status are processed faster in centres close to the EU’s external borders, with applications processed in a process taking up to 12 weeks.
Rights groups warn that the screening and fast-track rejection will de facto result in most migrants, including children, being detained for the duration of the process, while the EU’s stated aim is to reduce the number of people trying to enter the bloc without permission.
The EU also says the new approach is already showing results, with “a 55% decrease in illegal border crossings compared to two years ago,” according to the EU.
Human rights advocates and migration experts, including Salvatore Nicolosi, argue the new rules institutionalize treating migrants as security risks and as vulnerable humans, with Nicolosi saying, “The idea is to limit as much as possible the arrival of migrants to the European Union.”
Solidarity and external hubs
The pact’s solidarity mechanism is presented as a way to share responsibility for migrants who enter the Union, moving away from the Dublin system’s “first country” rule that previously left responsibility on the country first reached.
“(CN) — The European Union’s tough new legal regime on migration went into effect on Friday, giving border authorities more powers to quickly expel migrants deemed ineligible for asylum”
Under the solidarity mechanism, member states can take in asylum-seekers or contribute financially, and France 24 describes a system where countries can pay €20,000 per asylum-seeker and that at least 30,000 asylum-seekers a year will come under relocation.
The Week frames the overhaul as a shift that includes expanded detention and fast-track removal powers, with the pact backed by a shared digital database and “return hubs” outside EU borders for failed asylum-seekers.
Human Rights Watch criticizes the pact as undermining the right to asylum, with Judith Sunderland stating, “The new EU asylum pact, despite the trumpeting of EU leaders, slams the door in the face of people who deserve to be treated with dignity and to have a fair hearing of their claims for protection.”
Ursula von der Leyen, the EU’s chief executive, defended the reforms by saying the asylum law was “effective, fair and firm,” and that the Pact on Migration and Asylum delivers “more secure external borders, solidarity between member states and more efficient procedures for asylum and return.”
