LAST UPDATE | 20 Dec 2023

THE EU HAS reached agreement to reform asylum laws which it’s hoped will allow more cooperation between members states when managing arrivals into the bloc.

Reforms include speedier vetting of irregular arrivals, creating border detention centres, accelerated deportation for rejected asylum applicants and a solidarity mechanism to take pressure off southern countries experiencing big inflows.

The agreement will seek to relieve pressure on so-called frontline countries like Italy and Greece by relocating some arrivals to other EU states.

Those opposed to hosting asylum seekers would be required to pay those that do.

But dozens of charities that help migrants — including Amnesty International, Oxfam, Caritas and Save the Children — have criticised the changes, saying in an open letter that the package would create a “cruel system” that is unworkable.

Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF) added to the concern, fearing what the practical impacts will be and criticising it as a “compromise at the expense” of human rights.

“Today is a catastrophic day for people fleeing war and violence. With its asylum reform, the European Union is focussing on detention camps, fences and deportations to unsafe third countries,” it said.

Speaking this afternoon, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar said Ireland would decide in the new year whether it would opt in or opt out of the arrangement.

“But the whole idea behind it is a solid one. Every country in the European Union is facing an increasing number of people seeking international protection. That is hard to manage.

“And we figured we can manage the situation better if we work together. And that means strengthening our external borders around the European Union and making it harder for people to enter illegally or irregularly.

“So we think it’s good progress in the round, but we’ll have to go through all the detail and then decide in the new year,” he said.

Landmark agreement

After overnight talks, European Parliament president Roberta Metsola said the pact was a landmark agreement demonstrating that Europe has “once again defied the odds” by striking a deal.

“I’m very proud that with the Migration and Asylum Pact, we have delivered and provided solutions,” Metsola said.

Europe has delivered a robust Migration and Asylum Pact.

A legislative framework that functions, that protects.

That is humane and fair with those seeking protection, firm with those not eligible, strong with those who exploit the most vulnerable. https://t.co/nGPx02RtJX

— Roberta Metsola (@EP_President) December 20, 2023

The accord still needs to be formally approved by the European Council, representing the 27 EU member countries, and the European Parliament before it enters the bloc’s lawbooks.

Migration has taken on a harder political edge in recent years with the rise of nationalist anti-immigrant parties in several EU countries, including Italy, Sweden and the Netherlands.

The negotiators were keen to reach a workable deal that could be enacted before the term of the current European Parliament ends in June 2024.

Accelerated vetting

The overhaul, based on a commission proposal put forward three years ago, keeps the existing principle under which the first EU country an asylum-seeker enters is responsible for their case.

But to help countries experiencing a high number of arrivals — as is the case with Mediterranean countries Italy, Greece and Malta — a compulsory solidarity mechanism would be set up.

Germany welcomed the EU deal on reforming the bloc’s migration laws, saying it would ensure the new asylum system is implemented in a “fair, orderly” manner.

“The agreement on a common European asylum system was urgently needed and long overdue,” said Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock.

The Renew Europe group of MEPs also praised the “inter-institutional” agreement.

It said it would allow a common asylum system based on “responsibility and solidarity”, while dismissing “far-right and far-left” MEPs for proposing “fantasy and populist” solutions to the system.

Jan-Christoph Oetjen, a Renew Europe shadow rapporteur on screening regulations, said that the deal requires screening of asylum seekers to be completed in a maximum of seven days.

“An extension will not be possible. This guarantees a quick collection of information and we put in place harmonised rules for those arriving,” Oetjen said.

“The screening regulation is the basis of the new border procedure which will significantly reduce the number of irregular arrivals to Europe.”

Commenting on the European Union’s agreement on the Pact on Migration and Asylum, Felix Braunsdorf, refugee and migration expert at Médecins Sans Frontières/Doctors Without Borders (MSF), said it was a disastrous deal.

“The suffering that this EU asylum system will cause is already visible at the EU’s external borders. The President of Médecins Sans Frontières, Dr Christos Christou, is today at the Polish-Belarusian border, where a five-metre-high fence prevents people fleeing from accessing the right to asylum and causes serious injuries to those who try to climb over anyway.

“Our teams are treating people with sprains, broken bones and dog bites, as well as men, women and children who are exhausted and dehydrated or have suffered serious injuries from barbed wire.”

He added: “There is a risk that in future almost every refugee movement to Europe will be classified as a crisis or instrumentalisation situation, and that states will dismantle protection measures for people in need and restrict access for humanitarian organisations.

“This is the breeding ground for systematic violence, pushbacks and long, arbitrary detentions.

“Thousands of people are already being held in camps on the Greek islands under inhumane conditions. These include women, children and other vulnerable groups.”

Additional reporting by AFP