EU parliament adopts sweeping asylum reform
- The pact will harden tighten border procedures and force all the nations in the bloc to share responsibility for migrants
- It is the result of years of arduous negotiations spurred by a massive inflow of irregular migrants in 2015, many from war-torn Syria and Afghanistan
The EU parliament on Wednesday adopted a sweeping reform of Europe’s asylum policies that will both harden border procedures and force all the bloc’s 27 nations to share responsibility.
The parliament’s main political groups overcame opposition from far-right and far-left parties to pass the new migration and asylum pact – enshrining a difficult overhaul nearly a decade in the making.
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen hailed the vote, saying it will “secure European borders … while ensuring the protection of the fundamental rights” of migrants.
“We must be the ones to decide who comes to the European Union and under what circumstances, and not the smugglers and traffickers,” she said.
EU governments – a majority of which previously approved the pact – also welcomed its adoption.
