On Wednesday, the 20th of December, the European Union (EU) reached agreement after lengthy negotiations with the European Parliament on a new migration and asylum pact aimed at sharing more evenly the costs and responsibilities of hosting migrants and controlling the number of arrivals, reports Reuters.
Previous efforts to share responsibility for taking in migrants failed because eastern EU member states in particular were reluctant to take in people who had arrived in Greece, Italy and other countries.
Italian Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi called the migration pact a “great success” for Europe and Italy. German Chancellor Olaf Scholz underlined its importance in easing the situation of countries affected by migration, including Germany.
The new legislation is expected to enter into force next year.
Under the new system, countries that are not at the border can choose between taking in 30 000 asylum seekers or contributing to an EU fund of at least 20 000 euros per person.
The proposed screening system aims to distinguish between persons in need of international protection and others.
Persons who have a low chance of successfully obtaining asylum, such as those from India, Tunisia, or Turkey, can be refused entry to the EU and detained at the border, as can those who pose a security threat.
Amnesty International criticised the new pact, saying it would send EU asylum law back to history, increase the suffering of asylum seekers and create a system that will make it harder for people to access security. The organisation expressed concern that more people, including families with children and vulnerable people, would be detained at the EU’s borders.
Also read: VIDEO | Italy’s Lampedusa faces dramatic migrant influx
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