Initial Take on the EU’s “historic” deal on the New Pact on Migration and Asylum

The 🇪🇺 legislative bodies have today finally agreed on how to make major changes to some of 🇪🇺 EU's key asylum laws through the so-called "New Pact on Migration and Asylum."

Some of the key changes:

⚖ An amended Asylum Procedures Regulation (APR), which channels asylum seekers to a "fast-tracked border procedure for migrants that come from countries with low recognition rates," meant to last a maximum of 12 weeks, and a "traditional asylum procedure."

⚖ Introduction of The Asylum and Migration Management Regulation (AMMR): a system built on "mandatory solidarity" that will be triggered when one or more member states come under "migratory pressure." Members states can express solidarity in 3 ways: relocate a certain number of asylum seekers, pay a contribution for each claimant they refuse to relocate, and finance operational support.

⚖ Introduction of the The Crisis Regulation: "exceptional" rules when the 🇪🇺 bloc's asylum system is "threatened by a sudden and massive arrival of refugees," or by a situation of force majeure, like the COVID-19 pandemic. Here countries can impose hard measures, like prolong detention of asylum seekers.

❌ I agree with the 50 or so prominent humanitarian NGOs who wrote an open letter to the EU about these changes: this touted "success" mirrors past approaches which have failed to deter migrants, failed to ensure "solidarity," and above all failed to provide access to asylum procedures, fair assessment of asylum claims, and treatment of asylum seekers with dignity and care.

As the NGO's write: "If adopted in its current format, it will normalise the arbitrary use of immigration detention, including for children and families, increase racial profiling, use 'crisis' procedures to enable pushbacks, and return individuals to so called 'safe third countries' where they are at risk of violence, torture, and arbitrary imprisonment."

❗ Case in point: To use "low recognition rates" to summarily dismiss asylum claims is highly problematic, since rates vary widely between countries. For example, in some countries recognition rates for Afghans is over 90% while in others 30-50%.

❗ Case in point: what counts as "crisis?" Left conveniently undefined. The question risks becoming: what doesn't count as crisis?

❗ Why not, a third case in point: there's no way countries governed by far-right parties, Hungary, etc., and there's quite a few of them, growing every day, are going to express any kind of "solidarity."

This further erosion of the right of asylum isn't surprising as the political winds are blowing hard right. The right, center, center-right, center-left parties across Europe are happy to be carried along.