EU Passes Overhaul of Immigration Rules

Members of European Parliament participate in a series of votes as they attend a plenary session at the European Parliament in Brussels, on April 10, 2024. /Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP Photo

European Union lawmakers approved a revamped immigration system on April 10 after several years of negotiations.

Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) adopted the new Migration and Asylum Pact, intended to reform the EU’s immigration law, as agreed with its member countries, in hopes of managing illegal immigration into the union, according to a statement.

The plan was drawn up after 1.3 million people, mostly those fleeing war in Syria and Iraq, sought refuge in Europe in 2015. The EU’s asylum system collapsed, reception centers were overwhelmed in Greece and Italy, and countries further north built barriers to stop illegal immigrants from entering.

This year, more than 46,000 people have entered the EU illegally thus far, according to U.N. data, which also estimate that 400 people died while attempting to get in.

‘Mandatory Solidarity’

The legislation establishes a “new mandatory solidarity mechanism” that will require all EU members to help other members overwhelmed by mass illegal immigration, according to a statement and the text of the bill.

The EU will establish an annual pool to which each EU member will have to contribute with either relocation of illegal immigrants to its territory or financial contribution, according to the statement.

The annual contribution quota is calculated as a weighted average of the country’s share of the total population and gross domestic product (GDP) of the 27-member bloc, as stipulated in the legislation. Each share is assigned a 50 percent weight.

For example, an EU member country’s population is 20 percent of the overall EU population, and its GDP is 10 percent of the bloc’s GDP. Then, the weighted average contribution of that country is 15 percent, calculated as the sum of half of the 20 percent population share and half of the 10 percent GDP share.

The country has to contribute its assigned quota, but it is free to decide on the type of contribution, which may be in the form of taking illegal immigrants to its territory or covering the costs for other EU countries to take immigrants, the bill states.

The legislation also sets a minimum contribution threshold. Each member country is required to take at least 30,000 immigrants and contribute 600 million euros ($640 million) per year.

EU members can also provide support to non-EU countries directly affected by the migration flows toward the EU, according to the statement.

Response to Immigration Crises

The bill also stipulates that all member states must contribute to support an EU member whose immigration and asylum system has become “non-functional” because of the mass influx of illegal immigrants by land, air, or sea, according to a statement and the bill text.

This provision also applies to “instrumentalization of migrants,” the statement reads.

Instrumentalization occurs when a third country or hostile nonstate actor takes advantage of an immigration situation, and then encourages or facilitates their movement to the EU’s external borders in order to destabilize the EU or its country, according to the statement. However, humanitarian aid operations should not be treated as cases of instrumentalization because they do not aim to destabilize the EU or its members.

Screening at EU Borders

The bill establishes new screening rules that include identification, health and security checks, and collecting biometric data, according to a statement.

Illegal immigrants are rescued by members of the Spanish nongovernmental organization Proactiva Open Arms after leaving Libya trying to reach European soil aboard an overcrowded rubber boat in the Mediterranean Sea on Dec. 24, 2020. AP Photo/file/Sergi Camara

The existing EU’s system to process fingerprints, called Eurodac, will be enhanced to store and process facial images and additional information for illegal immigrants and asylum seekers, according to a statement. The legislation also lowered the minimum age for collecting biometric data from children to 6 from 14.

Eurodac has been in place since 2000 and can be accessed by the EU’s police (Europol), as well as the national police of all member countries and four non-EU countries, namely Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein.

Asylum and Deportation Procedures

Rescuers recover a body after a boat is wrecked and bodies believed to be of illegal immigrants were found in Cutro, Calabria, Italy, on Feb. 26, 2023. Giuseppe Pipita/Reuters

The new rules requiring faster processing of asylum claims and deportation will replace national procedures in all EU member countries, according to a statement.

The bill establishes a time limit of up to 12 weeks for asylum procedures conducted at or near EU external border or transit zones, according to the statement. Asylum seekers whose applications are rejected will be deported within 12 weeks.

Illegal immigrants will be entitled to free legal counseling in all administrative procedures.

Each country will be assigned by the European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, an annual cap on the number of asylum applications it is required to process, according to the statement. The cap will be increased gradually over the three years after the new law goes into effect.

Reception of Asylum Applicants

The bill lowers the time limit for authorities to grant work permits to asylum applicants from nine to six months, according to a statement. Asylum seekers “will get access to language courses, civic education courses, or vocational training courses.”

Children should go to school within two months after arrival, and unaccompanied minors must be assigned a guardian shortly after applying for asylum, according to the statement.

EU countries may assign asylum seekers a specific place to live but can detain them only in certain specific situations grounded in the country’s national law.

EU Resettlement Program

EU countries can participate in the EU resettlement program for immigrants voluntarily, but the EU can set resettlement targets for specific regions and countries for two years, according to a statement.

Candidates for resettlement will be mostly referred by the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees and accepted by a particular EU member state, according to the legislation text. The candidates have to be eligible for “refugee or subsidiary protection status in the EU,” according to the statement.

Subsidiary protection status can be granted to those who do not qualify for refugee status but may suffer serious harm upon return to their country because of, for example, an armed conflict in the country.

Those eligible for the resettlement program will be offered legal status with “access to all the fundamental rights associated with this status,” the statement reads.

How MEPs Voted

The new Migration and Asylum Pact consists of 10 legislative texts, each voted on individually, according to the statement.

Half of the legislative texts passed by a tight vote margin in the European Parliament, which is made up of 705 members.

The part of the bill addressing crises due to the mass influx of illegal immigrants was approved by a narrow 29-vote margin with 46 abstentions. The part modifying asylum procedures passed by a slim margin of 32 votes with 51 abstentions.

The part of the bill regulating the resettlement program was adopted by a margin of nearly 300 votes with 14 abstentions.

The part regulating the handling of asylum seekers passed by a 236-vote margin, and the part expanding EU’s centralized biometric system passed by a 232-vote margin.

The bill must be approved by the EU Council, another legislative body, to become law.

The regulations will start being applied in two years, according to the statement. For the directive on immigrant reception, “member states will have two years to introduce the changes to their national laws.”

Controversies

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk gestures during a press conference in Berlin on March 15, 2024. Annegret Hilse/Reuters/ File photo

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said at a press conference before the bill was voted on that the pact would be “unacceptable for Poland.”

The effective migration policy needs effective border protection and effective control of who enters the country, Mr. Tusk explained.

“We will find ways so that even if the migration pact comes into force in roughly unchanged form, we will protect Poland against the relocation mechanism [or paying for relocation],” Mr.Tusk told reporters.

Beata Szydlo, a member of the European Parliament representing Polish right-wing opposition party Law and Justice and a former prime minister, criticized the pact in a post on social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter.

“The EU’s migration policy is very wrong and needs to be changed. But you can’t put out the fire by adding fuel to it,” she said.

Ms. Szydlo said in a post after the legislation was adopted that she did not vote for it. The legislation “will neither increase the safety of Europeans, nor will it help migrants who come to Europe,” she explained. It will only encourage smugglers to bring more and more illegal migrants to Europe because they know that there will be money [to bankroll immigration]. Countries that do not want to take illegal migrants will have to pay for it.”

Demonstrators wear a message on their shirts that reads, "This pact kills" while standing in the visitor's gallery during a plenary session of the European Parliament in Brussels, on April 10, 2024 Geert Vanden Wijngaert/AP Photo

The proceedings in the parliament were briefly interrupted by a small but noisy group of demonstrators in the public gallery who wore shirts marked, “This pact kills” and shouted, “Vote no!”

Amnesty International, a human rights organization, criticized the pact, calling the vote to adopt it “a missed opportunity,” according to a statement.

Eve Geddie, Amnesty International’s director, said, “This is a failure to show global leadership on refugee protection and building safe, fair and dignified pathways for people to reach Europe, whether in search of safety or of opportunity.”

The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this report.