European Parliament approves migration deal after years of deadlock

Since more than million people sought refuge in Europe in 2015-2016, the European Union has been struggling to find a common and effective approach to managing migration and asylum, with wide divides between those who opened their doors and those who slammed them shut. In recent years, anti-migrant sentiment has soared across the continent and the far-right has seized on it, pushing the issue into the political mainstream and narrowing that gap.

As the United States debates border control heading into the presidential election, the issue has also dominated discussion in Europe ahead of E.U. elections in June. With the far-right leading in the polls, E.U. negotiators were under pressure to deliver a deal — and did.

The package of legislation, known as the migration and asylum pact, took three years to negotiate and is being touted by Brussels as a major breakthrough.

“After nearly a decade of blockade... it is done. Europe will manage migration in an orderly way, and on our terms,” Margaritis Schinas, a European Commission vice president overseeing migration policy, posted on X.

But it has faced fierce criticism from rights groups, who see it as a major setback for human rights, and from experts, who suspect it will do little to lower the number of migrant arrivals.

Wednesday’s vote was briefly interrupted by protestors chanting, “This pact kills, vote no!”

The plan aims to resolve a long-standing tension within the E.U.: some countries doing more than others. It asks front line countries such as Greece, Spain and Italy to build detention centers, speedily process claims and quickly deport unsuccessful claimants. Other countries are obligated to resettle more people or provide financial compensation — a provision known as a “solidarity mechanism.”

Though the pact has been poured over for years now, it is not clear how some of its key provisions will work. It is not immediately obvious, for instance, how the screening process will be streamlined without violating peoples’ right to claim asylum, or how the new rules will help increase the proportion of people ordered to leave who are actually deported.

Human rights groups and refugee advocates are alarmed by the changes, including rules forcing children as young as six to provide biometric data.

“This agreement will set back European asylum law for decades to come. Its likely outcome is a surge in suffering on every step of a person’s journey to seek asylum in the E.U.,” Eve Geddie, Director of Amnesty International’s European institutions office, said in a statement when the deal was struck. “From the way they are treated by countries outside the E.U., their access to asylum and legal support at Europe’s border, to their reception within the E.U., this agreement is designed to make it harder for people to access safety.”

The deal comes as various E.U. countries, notably France and Germany, move to the right on immigration and migration.

In December, as the E.U. migration and asylum deal was struck, the French Parliament adopted a bill that places tough rules on immigrants, such as making it harder for them to obtain benefits or for their children to become French citizens. The legislation was an effort to head off Marine Le Pen and her far-right National Rally.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz has vowed to take a tougher line as support for the far-right, anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD) is on the rise.