The European Union has struck a major deal to tighten immigration controls, making it easier to deport failed asylum seekers and hold families in detention centres on the bloc’s external borders.
The agreement, reached after three years of negotiations, promises to overhaul how the bloc processes migrants and paves the way for rapid assessments at borders.
Those deemed to have the lowest chance of being granted the right to stay, including families with women and children, will be processed at facilities near the bloc’s external frontiers within three months.
Member states away from the major points of arrival, such as Italy and Greece, will be expected to house asylum seekers to ease the burden on southern Europe.
European capitals that refuse to take in migrants can instead opt to pay financial compensation to other EU countries hosting more asylum seekers or contribute to the cost of programmes in third countries aimed at reducing migratory flows.
The deal came after two days and nights of fraught negotiations between the EU’s Parliament, Commission and Council.
The overhaul was first proposed in 2016 when more than one million migrants arrived in Europe, many escaping wars in Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan.
It also comes six months before Europe-wide elections, with polls displaying a surge in support for anti-immigration parties.
‘The most important deal’
During the first 11 months of 2023, more than 355,000 illegal migrants entered the bloc, the highest number since 2016.
Roberta Metsola, the European Parliament’s president, celebrated the reforms as “probably the most important legislative deal” of the current term.
Ursula von der Leyen, the European Commission president, added: “It means that Europeans will decide who comes to the EU and who can stay, not the smugglers. It means protecting those in need.”
The senior Eurocrat insisted the deal would protect the bloc “when hostile countries deliberately attempt to destabilise the EU”, echoing a similar recent warning from Rishi Sunak, the Prime Minister.
