EU reaches agreement to overhaul migration system, tighten asylum rules

Rights groups and some political parties say pact is ‘unworkable’ and will lead to ‘surge in suffering’.

The European Union has reached an agreement on reforms designed to share the cost of hosting migrants and refugees, and limit the numbers of people coming in to the bloc after years of discussion on how to overhaul its outdated asylum rules.

Envoys from member countries, the EU parliament and the executive branch, the European Commission, “reached a deal on the core political elements” of the Pact on Migration and Asylum, the EU’s Spanish presidency said in a statement on Wednesday after a night of negotiations.

Dozens of refugee rights groups have said the deal will create a “cruel system” that is unworkable and will cause what would amount to prison camps at the EU’s borders.

The reform includes speedier vetting of irregular arrivals, creating border detention centres, accelerated deportation for rejected asylum applicants and a solidarity mechanism to take pressure off southern countries experiencing big inflows of migrants.

Amnesty International said the agreement “will set back European asylum law for decades” and its “likely outcome is a surge in suffering on every step of a person’s journey to seek asylum in the EU” as it is “designed to make it harder for people to access safety”.