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EU approves migration deal The European Union agreed on a major overhaul of
rules that many hope will address challenges posed by migrant arrivals in the
last decade. Critics warn the reforms may weaken asylum-seekers' rights.


WORLD


THE EU AGREES ON A MIGRATION DEAL, BUT CRITICS WARN OF POSSIBLE RIGHTS ABUSES

December 20, 202310:11 AM ET

By 

The Associated Press

Enlarge this image

A Federal Police officer speaks into his radio as he and a colleague track down
a group of migrants who illegally crossed the border from Poland into Germany,
southeast of Berlin, Oct. 11. On Wednesday, European Union leaders hailed a
major breakthrough in talks on new rules to control migration. Markus
Schreiber/AP hide caption

toggle caption
Markus Schreiber/AP


A Federal Police officer speaks into his radio as he and a colleague track down
a group of migrants who illegally crossed the border from Poland into Germany,
southeast of Berlin, Oct. 11. On Wednesday, European Union leaders hailed a
major breakthrough in talks on new rules to control migration.

Markus Schreiber/AP

BRUSSELS — European Union leaders and top officials hailed on Wednesday a major
breakthrough in talks on new rules to control migration, but critics said the
reforms will weaken the rights of asylum-seekers and encourage more morally
dubious deals with countries that people leave to get to Europe.

After overnight talks, visibly exhausted EU lawmakers emerged expressing relief
that agreement was found "on the core political elements" of the Pact on Asylum
and Migration — a major overhaul of rules that many hope will address the
challenges posed by migrant arrivals over the last decade.

"It's truly a historic day," said European Parliament President Roberta Metsola,
flanked by lawmakers responsible for the key parts of the agreement. With
migration likely to be a hot campaign issue ahead of EU elections next June,
Metsola said, it was vital to make a breakthrough.

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"Let's not underestimate the risk if we had not reached such a deal," she told
reporters. "This means, hopefully, that member states will feel less inclined to
reintroduce internal borders because the influx is being managed."

The pact was touted as the answer to the EU's migration woes when it was made
public in September 2020. The bloc's old rules collapsed in 2015 after well over
1 million people arrived in Europe without authorization. Most were fleeing war
in Syria or Iraq.

But little progress was made on the pact as the member states bickered over
which country should take charge of migrants when they arrive and whether other
countries should be obligated to help.

In recent weeks, negotiators bridged differences on rules concerning the
screening of migrants arriving without authorization -– facial images and
fingerprints will be quickly taken, including from children from the age of 6 -–
and the ways that this biometric data can be used.

Agreement was also found on which EU countries should handle asylum
applications, the procedures for doing so, and what kinds of mandatory support
other countries must provide to nations struggling to cope with migrant
arrivals, notably in "crisis situations."

In a post on X, formerly Twitter, the European Council on Refugees and Exiles –
a migrant rights umbrella body – slammed the rules as "Byzantine in their
complexity and Orban-esque in their cruelty," a reference to Hungarian Prime
Minister Viktor Orban, who erected razor-wire fences to keep migrants out.



But lawmakers were more sanguine.

Noting that he and fellow negotiators had "not slept a wink in the last couple
of days," Spanish Socialist EU lawmaker Juan Fernando Lopez Aguilar explained
that merely agreeing a deal could be seen as a victory, and that "no one can
come out of this negotiation entirely happy."

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz described it as "a very important decision" that
will "relieve the burden on countries that are particularly affected — including
Germany."

Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez told his country's parliament that the pact
"will allow us to have an improved, more humane and better coordinated
management of our frontiers and migration flows."

Dutch caretaker Prime Minister Mark Rutte said the deal improves "control over
migration" with "better asylum procedures at the external borders of the EU."
Far-right lawmaker Geert Wilders aims to replace Rutte after sweeping to victory
in last month's elections on an anti-migration platform.

The breakthrough was announced just after the French parliament approved a
divisive immigration bill intended to strengthen France's ability to deport
foreigners considered undesirable. The vote prompted a heated debate after the
far-right decided to back the measure.

Wednesday's EU deal is not definitive though. For the entire reform pact to
enter force, officials and lawmakers have said, a final agreement on all its 10
parts must be reached by February, and then transcribed into law before the June
6-9 elections.

In recent years, as hope for reforms languished, the EU focused on outsourcing
the challenge by offering economic, political and travel incentives to countries
that people leave or transit to get to Europe.

A deal with Tunisia, where authorities have been accused of dumping migrants in
the desert, was a recent example. Italy has also concluded a bilateral agreement
to send people to Albania, but that faces legal challenges. The EU is in talks
with Egypt, Iraq, Morocco and Nigeria, among others.



Rights groups warned that Wednesday's agreement will only entrench that kind of
thinking.

Eve Geddie, Director of Amnesty International's European Institutions Office,
said that it "will set back European asylum law for decades to come," and "cause
more people to be put into de-facto detention at EU borders, including families
with children and people in vulnerable situations."

"States will be able to simply pay to strengthen external borders, or fund
countries outside the EU to prevent people from reaching Europe," Geddie added.

Oxfam's EU migration expert Stephanie Pope worried that the pact would encourage
"more detention, including of children and families in prison-like centers. They
have also slammed the door on those seeking asylum with substandard procedures,
fast-tracked deportation and gambled with people's lives."

The secretary general of the Caritas Europa charity group, Maria Nyman, said the
deal shows that EU countries "prefer to shift their asylum responsibility to
non-EU countries, prevent arrivals and speed up return, exposing migrants to
human rights violations."

 * EU migration
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