EU reaches deal on migration and asylum pact – live | Europe

The European Parliament and the Spanish presidency of the Council reached an agreement today on “the core political elements of five key regulations that will thoroughly overhaul the EU’s legal framework on asylum and migration,” the Council said in a statement.

It noted that “following today’s provisional agreement, work will continue at technical level in the coming weeks to flesh out the details of the new regulations.”

Next, “the provisional agreement will be submitted to member states’ representatives (Coreper) for confirmation.”

Here are some of the details of the wide-ranging political agreement on the migration and asylum pact.

Speaking at a press conference this morning, the European parliament president, Roberta Metsola, said:

Today is truly a historic day. I am surrounded by colleagues who have not slept for days and nights.

In a very, I would say, also emotional moment – I start from a personal angle.

You know, I come from an island in the Mediterranean, and I know exactly what it means when we say that we have finally delivered on the migration and asylum pact – probably the most important legislative deal of this mandate.

It was the number one concern of our citizens in 2019, it still remains the number one concern for many.

So this is an agreement that is more than ten years in the making.

The parliament president said her colleagues “have managed to find a balance between solidarity and responsibility across all files – it was not easy, but it only makes this achievement even more important.”

She underscored the political significance of the deal:

We can manage to showcase this unprecedented reform before next year’s elections.

But Metsola also acknowledged that “we are aware that there is no perfect solution”.

She added:

It is not a perfect package on the table, and it does not look at the solutions to all complex issues, but what we do have on the table is far better for all of us than we have had previously.

We can demonstrate that Europe has the solutions and that Europe can deliver.

The Green group in the European parliament said this morning that the political deal on the migration and asylum pact is “unworkable & solidifies practices that undermine human rights”.

The Belgian MEP Philippe Lamberts, the Green group’s co-president, said “today’s agreements entrench outdated ideas on how to deal with migration and fail to take into account the reality at the EU’s borders both on the ground and in the sea”.

“This will undermine the right to asylum, international law and human rights,” he said, adding:

Instead of seeking humane and practical solutions to manage migration in an orderly and safe way, EU member states have been pursuing dangerous policies that are turning the Mediterranean into a graveyard. Unfortunately the outcome of these negotiations will only solidify this approach.

What we needed with this pact was a full overhaul of the rules and mandatory relocation. Despite a new binding solidarity mechanism in EU law, its shortcomings are stark – solidarity now means border surveillance within the EU, relocation is not prioritised and there are no specific solidarity procedures for search and rescue disembarkation.

Lamberts also underscored that “the detention of migrants, children and families at the borders is totally unacceptable”.

Unfortunately, the systematic and prolonged detention of people in unsanitary and unsafe conditions at the EU’s borders will continue. The Greens/EFA Group will never accept the lowering of standards and legal safeguards in asylum procedures.

Reacting to the political deal on the EU’s migration and asylum pact, the Left group in the European parliament said:

A dark day for the EU.

The Pact on Migration & Asylum just agreed, marks the death of the individual right to asylum in Europe.

This is the most significant attack on asylum & migration rights since the EU was founded.

A Swedish member of the European parliament, Tomas Tobé, a member of the centre-right European People’s party, said that “the new rules will allow us to regain control over our external borders and reduce the migration pressure towards the EU”.

“This would not have been possible without the EPP Group. We have been a constructive and unifying force throughout the negotiations,” said Tobé, the parliament’s lead negotiator on the migration management law.

The Dutch MEP Jeroen Lenaers, the EPP group spokesperson on home affairs, outlined elements of the deal:

The pact intends to regain control over the EU’s borders. It is up to EU governments, not smugglers, to decide who enters Europe. For that, each part of the Migration Pact is equally important.

New Eurodac rules will allow for proper identification, helping to prevent irregular migration and unauthorised movement between EU countries.

Meanwhile, new harmonised rules on security checks will effectively screen all irregular arrivals at the external EU borders.

At the external borders, a clear distinction will be made between those who are in need of international protection and those who are not.

Those who represent a threat to security and those whose applications for international protection have low chances of success will have to go through a border procedure, ensuring support for those in real need of protection and the efficient return of those who are not.

The centrist Renew Europe group in the European parliament has also welcomed today’s deal on the migration and asylum pact.

The French MEP Fabienne Keller said “today Europe has delivered”, adding:

We have proven the extremists on the left and right wrong. Finally, we will have a strong common asylum system based on responsibility and solidarity.

The German MEP Jan-Christoph Oetjen noted that under the terms of the deal, “the screening must be completed in a maximum of seven days. An extension will not be possible”.

He added:

This guarantees a quick collection of information and we put in place harmonised rules for those arriving. We were thus able to incorporate the core demands of Renew Europe into the migration pact. The screening regulation is the basis of the new border procedure which will significantly reduce the number of irregular arrivals to Europe.

The European Commission president, Ursula von der Leyen, said this morning that “this Pact on Migration and Asylum will ensure that there is an effective European response to this European challenge.”

She added:

It means that Europeans will decide who comes to the EU and who can stay, not the smugglers. It means protecting those in need.

This Pact will also ensure that Member States share the effort responsibly, showing solidarity with those that protect our external borders while preventing illegal migration to the EU.

And it will give the EU and its Member States the tools to react rapidly in situations of crisis, when Member States are faced with large numbers of illegal arrivals or instrumentalisation when hostile countries deliberately attempt to destabilise the EU or its Member States.

The commission chief also noted that “alongside the Pact, the Commission supports Member States through concrete, operational measures to deal with immediate challenges” and is “implementing concrete action plans to fight illegal migration through the Mediterranean, the Balkans or the Atlantic.”

She said:

We are building partnerships with countries of origin and transit, to fight smugglers and traffickers and to ensure effective returns to their country of origin of migrants with no right to stay in the EU.

The president of the European parliament, Roberta Metsola, said “20 December 2023 will go down in history”.

“Europe has once again defied the odds. I’m very proud that with the Migration & Asylum Pact, we have delivered and provided solutions,” she said.

Negotiators from the European parliament and the Council this morning reached a political agreement on the bloc’s migration and asylum pact.

“We did it,” wrote Ylva Johansson, the EU’s commissioner for home affairs.

The Council of the EU said in a statement:

The five EU laws that the Spanish presidency and parliament have agreed on touch upon all stages of asylum and migration management, ranging from screening irregular migrants when they arrive in the EU, taking biometric data, procedures for making and handling asylum applications, the rules on determining which member state is responsible for handling an asylum application and cooperation and solidarity between member states and how to handle crisis situations, including cases of instrumentalisation of migrants.

The new rules, once adopted, will make the European asylum system more effective and will increase the solidarity between member states by enabling to lighten the load on those member states where most migrants arrive.