EU agrees landmark deal to curb migration and share asylum seekers

Agreement comes after years of wrangling – but rights groups say it will lead to a surge in suffering for some of the most vulnerable

A boat carrying 156 migrants near the Canary Islands (AFP/Getty)

The EU has struck a breakthrough deal to cut migration and share ayslum seekers after years of political deadlock – but rights groups say that it will lead to a “surge in suffering”.

The new rules are designed to share the cost and work of hosting migrants and asylum seekers more evenly and to limit the number of people coming into the continent. They also cover procedures for handling asylum applications, rules on determining which EU country is responsible for handling applications and ways to handle crises.

After overnight talks, visibly exhausted EU legislators emerged expressing relief that agreement was found “on the core political elements” of the pact on asylum and migration. It follows years of failed attempts in the wake of the 2015/2016 crisis when more than one million people reached the bloc, driven by events such as the Syrian civil war. The number of arrivals have steadily crept up from a 2020 low to 255,000 in the year to November, with more than half crossing the Mediterranean from Africa, mainly to Italy and Greece. A number of summits in recent years have been derailed by arguments over costs and which nations will deal with the actual processing.

The pressure to act has been growing as far-right parties across the continent have capitalised on an increased number of asylum applications since 2020 – EU border agency Frontex said this month there were more undocumented arrivals so far in 2023 than in any year since 2015 – and negotiators have been scrambling to get a deal agreed ahead of European parliament elections in June.

The deal says that frontline countries in Southern Europe, such as Italy, will institute a stricter asylum procedure at their non-EU borders and will be able to remove rejected asylum seekers more swiftly. Countries further inland will have to choose between accepting their share of 30,000 asylum applicants or paying at least €20,000 (£17,000) per person into an EU fund.

The screening system envisaged will seek to distinguish between those in need of international protection and others who are not. People whose asylum applications have a low chance of success, such as those from India, Tunisia or Turkey, can be prevented from entering the EU and detained at the border, as can people seen as representing a threat to security.

Speaking to reporters in Brussels, European parliament president Roberta Metsola acknowledged that the pact was “not a perfect package” and denied it mirrored proposals from the far right, arguing it was instead a political compromise reached amongst centrist parties.

“It’s a centre that does not copy the right, it goes on pragmatism,” Ms Metsola said. Filippo Grandi, the UN high commissioner for refugees, called the agreement “a very positive step”.

Wednesday’s EU deal is not definitive though. For the entire reform pact to be enforced, a final agreement on all its 10 parts must be reached by February, and then transcribed into law before the early June elections.

However, Amnesty International said the political agreement “will lead to a surge in suffering for asylum seekers, refugees and migrants on every step of their journey.” Left-wing politicians also criticised the deal. Cornelia Ernst, a Left party MEP, said on X, formerly Twitter: “[This] is a dramatic day for the rights of people seeking protection in Europe: a dream of the right-wing populists in the EU coming true... the European parliament has become the doormat of the Member States."

Oxfam’s EU migration expert Stephanie Pope worried that the pact would encourage “more detention, including of children and families in prison-like centres. They have also slammed the door on those seeking asylum with substandard procedures, fast-tracked deportation and gambled with people's lives.”

It comes as a number of nations are looking outside of the EU for help to deal with irregular migration. Last month, Italy signed a deal with Albania to build two migrant centres to house and process those rescued at sea by Italian boats. It is the first deal of its kind struck between an EU member country and a non-EU state. The centres would be under Italian legal jurisdiction, constructed at Italy’s expense, and are expected to open by spring 2024. The centres will hold up to 36,000 people once opened.

While no longer in the EU, prime minister Rishi Sunak’s government plans to send asylum seekers to Rwanda. Speaking to parliament’s powerful liaison committee on Wednesday, Mr Sunak refused to say if any airline had agreed to Rwanda deportation flights, amid reports the government is struggling to find a partner. But Mr Sunak said he remained “highly confident” he will be able to deport asylum seekers to the east African nation under the scheme.

The secretary general of the Caritas Europa charity group, Maria Nyman, said the new EU deal shows that nations “prefer to shift their asylum responsibility to non-EU countries, prevent arrivals and speed up return, exposing migrants to human rights violations.”