This Wednesday, April 10, European deputies spoke out in favor of the Asylum and Migration Pact, in negotiations for more than three years, which provides for a reform of European migration policy.
At the heart of the campaign for the European elections, immigration was at the center of a key debate in the European Parliament this Wednesday. MEPs voted in favor of the Asylum and Migration Pact, the project to reform the management of migratory flows and asylum requests in the European Union.
This project, made up of ten texts – in negotiations for more than three years – was the subject of a compromise between Member States and MEPs last December, who therefore agreed on a set of rules relating to immigration and asylum.
The pact provides in particular for the introduction of prior checks of migrants at the EU’s external borders, with âfilteringâ of people wishing to enter European territory.
The principle of obligatory solidarity with countries where migratory pressure is significant will also be introduced. The text also aims to establish âborderâ procedures for asylum seekers whose requests are admissible, but who have little chance of obtaining international protection.
In the event of an unprecedented migration crisis, like the one experienced by Europe in 2015, specific systems will be put in place. The pact also provides for the creation of the concept of âsafe third countryâ.
A reform supported by the centrists
This reform, supported by the main European political forces (the liberal centrists of Renew, the right of the PEE and the Socialists & Democrats), should apply in 2026. At the same time, the European Union is increasing the number of agreements with the countries of origin and transit of migrants, such as Tunisia, Mauritania and Egypt, to reduce the number of arrivals at European borders.
In France, the head of the Renaissance list in the European elections, ValĂ©rie Hayer, welcomed in advance the probable adoption of the pact, which she considers to be “a political victory”, being “the only head of the list to vote this agreement”. The European reform is in fact criticized by the right and the far right, who consider the reform far too lax to allow real control of migratory flows.
It does not find much more support on the left or among environmentalists, who accuse the Member States of having given in to the sirens of the far right, and of implementing a policy consisting of âbrutalizing, locking up and repressingâ, as declared Manon Aubry, head of the list of La France insoumise.
Human rights organizations have also shown their opposition to asylum reform in the European Union. Since December, Amnesty International has been warning about its potential abuses. âIt is clearer than ever that this Pact on Migration and Asylum will lead to a regression of European asylum law in the decades to come, will only increase suffering and expose even more people to risk suffer human rights abuses at every stage of their journey,â said Eve Geddie, Director of Amnesty Internationalâs European Institutions Office.
After the vote of MEPs, the reform will still have to be formally validated by the Member States.