Filenews 10 April 2024
The European Parliament has given the green light to the new Pact on Migration and Asylum, which was put to a vote today in the European Parliament.
Despite opposition, MEPs ultimately voted in favour of all five pieces of legislation on asylum procedures, migration crisis management and border protection. However, activists in the gallery began shouting, calling for a vote against the pact. "The pact kills, vote no," the activists chanted, throwing tricks at MEPs.
"We made history," Metsola said
Immediately after voting in favour of the five legislative texts, European Parliament President Roberta Metsola stressed that "we have made history". In a post to X, she noted that "we kept our word", adding that the pact constitutes a "balance between solidarity and responsibility".
At the same time, the centre-right celebrated the approval of the migration pact. EPP MEP Thomas Tombé argued that the European Parliament had "successfully put an end to the political impasse that has characterised migration for many years. The implementation of the new Migration Pact will allow us to regain control of our external borders and reduce migratory pressure on the EU."
New, common immigration policy
The pact aims to establish a new, common policy for managing the reception and relocation of asylum seekers across the bloc, seeks to provide a unified response to the migration issue, after almost 10 years of crises and isolated responses by member states to the problem.
In the new Migration Pact, the establishment of mandatory solidarity is considered crucial, based on which all member states of the European Union should contribute to the management of migration, either financially, by hosting migrants, or by providing operational support.
The text of the pact, after much debate and controversy, includes five laws that, according to lawmakers, seek "to reform the existing rules with an emphasis on cooperation, but also mandatory but flexible solidarity." Several MEPs believe the pact will bring relief to countries such as Greece and Italy, which have borne the brunt of migratory flows coming from Mediterranean sea routes.
The objectives of the new Pact sound ambitious. However, the regulations it establishes are met with opposition, with right-wingers considering it left-wing and left-wing right. The pact was supported by the three major political groups (EPP, Socialists and Liberals) / On the other hand, pragmatists argue that the text is the best possible at the moment, especially as the far-right is expected to emerge stronger in the European elections in June.
What does the new Pact envisage?
The new Pact on Migration and Asylum contains provisions covering all stages of the issue, from screening irregular migrants and taking biometric data, to the procedures for processing asylum applications by member states.
It also has provisions for cooperation and solidarity between member states and how to manage crises. In any case, the rapporteurs of the Pact made it clear that the five laws are in fact unitary. If the European Parliament rejected even one, the entire pact would fall.
The New Pact is considered by many to be one of the biggest political dossiers of this mandate. However, the rapporteurs of the Eurogroups admit that there are divisions both between and within parties, leading them to consider that predicting the outcome of the vote is impossible.
Who disagrees with the New Pact?
Opposition to the New Pact has been voiced by well-known cases, such as lawmakers from Viktor Orban's Hungarian party Fidesz, as well as the far-right group Identity and Democracy (ID), which includes Italy's League, France's National Rally and Germany's Alternative for Germany (AfD).
At the same time, there are reactions within the dominant Eurogroups, with the most powerful bloc being the 16 Italian MEPs of the Socialists and Democrats.
"No" to the new pact is also from Italy's populist Five Star Movement, which considers it useless for its country but also detrimental to the rights of migrants, while MEPs from Giorgia Meloni's Brothers of Italy party, which cohabits with the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR), dominated by the Polish Law and Justice delegation that opposes the changes, They had announced that they would "examine each file individually".
Resistance was also voiced by the 72 MEPs of the Greens and the 37 of the Left, speaking of strict provisions that would undermine the asylum procedure and allow violations of fundamental rights.
protothema.gr
