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Last week, the European Council ratified the New Pact on Migration and Asylum [1], a legislative piece designed to better handle irregular immigrants when they attempt to enter European Union (EU) territory. Migration has been a divisive issue in European Union politics for close to a decade, ever since the war in Iraq and Syria. Southern members were tasked with handling irregular migrants in their thousands, north-western states called for tougher law enforcement at the EU’s external borders, and eastern states opposed the idea of hosting some of those immigrants or contributing financially to support the former. Amnesty International considers that the New Pact is more likely to increase the risk of human rights violations and to cause more suffering [2].

Despite certain member states openly declaring their disapproval (Hungary and Poland voted against the New Pact, the Czech Republic and Slovakia abstained from the procedure, and Austria voted against the Crisis Regulation), the majority of EU governments approved the New Pact that will enter into force in 2026. Irregular immigrants trying to enter the European Union will be screened at the border of the country they have landed at. Screening includes identity, health, and security checks for people as young as 6 years old, with all information being stored on a database named EURODAC (European Asylum Dactyloscopy Database) [3]. The outcome of the screening will decide whether a person is risk-free and will be allowed to stay or poses a threat and will be deported to their country of origin. It is expected that those escaping conflict zones will be granted asylum, while those aiming at entering the European job market will be denied entry.

In general, upon reaching EU territory, people must apply for asylum to the member state they first entered and remain at reception centres for up to twelve weeks, which could be further extended by eight more weeks in case there is cause for mass migration. The New Pact’s “main novelty is a system of ‘mandatory solidarity’ that would give governments three options to manage asylum seekers: relocate a certain number, pay €20,000 for each one they reject, or finance operational support.” [4] The New Pact on Migration and Asylum is intended to alleviate the burden of EU members that receive scores of migrants as “Nations can relocate asylum applicants to their territory or choose some other form of assistance. This could be financial – a relocation is evaluated at 20,000 euros ($21,462) per person – technical or logistical. Members can also assume responsibility for deporting people from the partner country in trouble.” [5] Critics, of course, maintain that the New Pact could potentially infringe upon the right to asylum, just as supporters hope it will contribute to the decline of the far right’s influence in EU affairs.