On April 10, the European Parliament (EP) will vote on a landmark reform of EU legislation on asylum seekers and illegal migrants, AFP reported.
Here are the main changes that will take effect from 2026: if passed.
Boundary filtering
Under the EU's new Pact on Asylum and Migration, migrants who enter the EU illegally will be subject to identity, health and security checks and their facial biometrics and fingerprints will be recorded, which could take up to 7 days.
Children will be treated in a special way, and member states must have independent monitoring mechanisms to ensure that rights are respected.
The procedure aims to determine which migrants should receive an expedited or normal asylum application procedure and which should be sent back to their country of origin or transit.
Advanced verification
Asylum seekers who have a lower chance of being granted protection status will be processed more quickly.
Citizens of countries such as Tunisia, Morocco and Bangladesh fall into this category.
Their simplified applications will be processed in centers located not far from the "external borders" of the EU, i.e. mostly land borders and ports, but also airports. The aim is that they can be quickly turned back if their application is deemed unfounded or inadmissible.
In this regard, it is necessary to use detention centers, although alternative measures such as residential confinement can also be used.
The centers can hold up to 30,000 people at any one time, with the EU expecting up to 120,000 migrants to pass through each year.
They will also detain unaccompanied minors who are considered to be a security risk, as well as families with children.
Solidarity mechanism
The new system will reform the so-called "Dublin III" mechanism of the EU. According to him, the country in which an illegal migrant steps for the first time is responsible for considering his case.
This currently puts the emphasis on Italy, Greece and Malta, which have received the majority of land and sea arrivals in recent years.
Under the new rules, Dublin III will be preserved, but with additional criteria that can move an asylum seeker's file to another EU country.
And a solidarity mechanism would oblige member states to accept a certain number of asylum seekers arriving at the bloc's border states. If they choose not to do so, landlocked countries may provide cash or other material or personnel contributions.
Under this relocation system, at least 30,000 asylum seekers will be accepted annually. An annual financial compensation of €600 million will be set for those who prefer to pay rather than accept.
Influx reaction
The package establishes an emergency response in case of unexpected migration waves. This was the case in 2015-2016, when more than two million asylum seekers entered the bloc.
In 2023, asylum applications will reach 1.14 million, the highest level since 2016.
This would allow member states to reduce protections for asylum seekers, making it possible to hold them longer than is normally allowed in detention centers at the EU's external borders.
EU members also want to tackle the "instrumentation" of migration flows from outside countries. Belarus and Russia, for example, have been accused of encouraging migrants to try to enter the EU in order to destabilize the bloc.
"Secure Third Party"
The concept of "safe third country" will be resolved in the screening of asylum applicants.
This could mean that the application of an illegal migrant who arrived in the EU through a country deemed "safe" enough to apply for protection there could be rejected. But in order for this measure to be implemented, a sufficient "connection" must be established between the asylum seeker and the transit country./BGNES
