On 20 December political agreement was reached by the European Parliament and the Council on key proposals under the Pact on Migration and Asylum.
The agreement covers five key proposed Regulations:
- Screening Regulation: creating uniform rules concerning the identification of non-EU nationals upon their arrival, thus increasing the security within the Schengen area.
- Eurodac Regulation: developing a common database gathering more accurate and complete data to detect unauthorised movements.
- Asylum Procedures Regulation: making asylum, return and border procedures quicker and more effective.
- Asylum Migration Management Regulation: establishing a new solidarity mechanism amongst Member States to balance the current system where a few countries are responsible for the vast majority of asylum applications, and clear rules on responsibility for asylum applications.
- Crisis and Force majeure Regulation: ensuring that the EU is prepared in the future to face situations of crisis, including instrumentalisation of migrants.
The next step is formal adoption by the European Parliament and Council.
The New Pact on Migration and Asylum was proposed by the Commission in September 2020 as a ‘new EU framework that manages and normalises migration for the long term’. The New Pact is an approach that aims to address the many different elements needed for a comprehensive way forward for European Union member states.
An updated Fact Sheet provides a clear look at many of the components of the pact and their current state of progress.
See more:
- Updated Fact Sheet: State of Play: New Pact on Migration and Asylum (europa.eu)
- European Commission Media statement: New Pact on Migration and Asylum (europa.eu)
- Previous EMN Ireland news story: Fact Sheet on New Pact on Migration and Asylum Progress Published – The European Migration Network (emn.ie)