Europe (Washington Insider Magazine) — The European Union has officially approved a significant overhaul of its migration and asylum policies, aimed at establishing stricter borders and shared responsibilities among member states. This decision marks the culmination of over eight years of work on the New Pact on Migration and Asylum and comes as the EU prepares for elections set for June 6-9.
The reform package, consisting of ten legislative pieces, received broad support from EU member nations, despite opposition from Hungary and Poland, which have resisted mandatory burden-sharing for incoming migrants. The new rules, set to take effect in 2026, will streamline the process of screening individuals to determine eligibility for asylum or potential deportation.
Supporters, particularly from mainstream political parties, believe this pact addresses longstanding divisions that emerged following the influx of over one million refugees in 2015, primarily from conflict zones in Syria and Iraq. They hope the new measures will mitigate the appeal of far-right parties during the upcoming European Parliament elections.
In 2023, over 1.14 million individuals applied for international protection within the EU, according to a report by the EU Agency for Asylum (EUAA).
Critics, however, argue that the reforms will enable countries to detain refugees at borders and fingerprint children, potentially undermining their rights to claim asylum. Amnesty International has cautioned that these changes may exacerbate human rights violations, claiming that negotiations have led to a deteriorating outcome that fails to resolve existing gaps in the EU’s asylum system.
As populist, anti-immigration parties gain traction, polls indicate a strong showing for the Identity and Democracy (ID) group and the eurosceptic European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) in the upcoming elections. Estimates suggest that their combined voter base could rival that of the center-right European People’s Party (EPP), the largest group in the European Parliament.
