EP and member states reach agreement on migration policy reform

“A The Spanish Presidency of the Council and the European Parliament have reached agreement on the main political elements of five fundamental regulations that will profoundly reformulate the EU’s legal framework on asylum and migration”, the structure that brings together the Member States announced in a statement.

Today’s endorsement comes after several hours of overnight negotiations between community co-legislators, with a first round on Monday that continued, in a debate that was being mainly blocked by France, which wanted security guarantees in the new rules, they said. European sources.

This reform, which includes a series of texts, foresees, in particular, reinforced control of migrant arrivals to the EU, closed centers close to the borders to more quickly return those who do not have the right to asylum and a mandatory solidarity mechanism for the benefit of states under migratory pressure.

Specifically, five laws were agreed between EU co-legislators covering all phases of asylum and migration management, from the screening of irregular migrants when they arrive in the EU, the collection of biometric data, procedures for the presentation and processing of asylum requests, the rules for determining which Member State is responsible for processing an asylum request and cooperation and solidarity between countries and how to deal with crisis situations, including cases of instrumentalization of migrants.

“The new rules, once adopted, will make the European asylum system more effective and increase solidarity between Member States, making it possible to alleviate the burden on countries where more migrants arrive”, the EU Council said in the note.

Following today’s provisional agreement, technical work continues to finalize the details of the new regulation.

The objective is for there to be a final approval, given the necessary negotiation process until the European elections in June 2024, to equitably share responsibilities between Member States and act in a supportive manner when dealing with migratory flows.

At the beginning of October, at a meeting of the Council’s Permanent Representatives Committee (Coreper, composed of the ambassadors of the 27 to the EU), member states concluded the negotiation mandate on a regulation relating to crisis situations, including the instrumentalization of migration and force majeure in the field of migration and asylum.

This approval allowed the step taken today in negotiations between the Council and the European Parliament.

Previously, last June, EU member states had agreed on a general approach to reforming asylum rules and, since then, the package has been discussed by the co-legislators (Council and European Parliament).

Irregular arrivals to the EU have declined significantly since the peak of the migration crisis in 2015, and in 2023, 255,332 crossings were recorded.

[Notícia atualizada às 08h50]

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