On 11 April 2024, the Plenary Assembly of the European Parliament approved the controversial reform of the Asylum and Migration Pact.
The adoption of the Parliament was necessary, under the ordinary legislative procedure, together with the adoption of the Council (expected in the coming weeks), for the entrance into force of the Pact on the twentieth day after the publication of the Pact on the Official Journal of the European Union.
This step was thus crucial to have the Pact adopted before the elections for the renewal of the European Parliament in June 2024, where the issue of migration promises be one of the key elements of the political debate.
The Pact is composed of several legal instruments, nine regulations and one directive. Here is a list of the legal instruments with the links to the texts adopted:
- Regulation on asylum and migration management
- Regulation on crisis and force majeure
- Regulation on screening of third country nationals at the external border
- Regulation on screening amending Regulation (EU) 2019/816
- Regulation on asylum procedures
- Regulation on return border procedure
- Regulation on Eurodac (database)
- Regulation on qualification standards
- Regulation on EU Resettlement framework
- Directive on Reception conditions
Understanding the complexity of the package will require time. Several of the acts approved are going to have a substantial impact on migrant families and on minors. Among the others, it is noteworthy to mention Art. 23 of the Regulation on Asylum and Migration Management, which establishes specific guarantees for minors applying for international protection, expressly mentioning the notion of best interests of the child. Art. 25 of the same Regulation, also, includes another specific provision on unaccompained minors and Artt. 26-27 and 28 deal with family members of international protection holders.
Other controversial issues deal with the notion of the instrumentalisation of migration, included in the amended text of the Regulation on crisis and force majeure, that can potentially undermine the possibility to apply for international protection.
To be effectively aware of the impact of these provisions, it is important to remember that nine out of the ten different legal acts will be applicable only two years after the publication in the Official Journal.
The adoption by the Council and the entrance into force will thus kick-off a potentially long and difficult process of application and (at least in one case) transposition at national level, that will require a long transition phase, especially for the Member States who are at the frontline in the management of migration.
Picture credits: European Union 2024, European Parliament, President Roberta Metsola during the debate on the Migration and Asylum package of the Mini-Plenary Session
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