On 23 September 2020, the European Commission presented a New Pact on Migration and Asylum, including five new legislative proposals to reform the EU asylum and migration rules. The Council of the European Union reached its position on these five laws in June 2022, June 2023 and October 2023 respectively and has since then been negotiating with the European Parliament to settle to agree on a common stance.

Today, the European Parliament and the Council of the European Union have reached a political agreement on the five key proposals of the Pact:

• The Asylum Procedure Regulation (APR): This Regulation inter alia introduces a mandatory border procedure, with the aim of quickly assessing at the EU’s external borders whether applications for asylum are unfounded or inadmissible. Persons subject to the asylum border procedure are not authorised to enter the Member State’s territory. They will have to reside at or in proximity to the external border or transit zones or in other designated locations within the territory of a country (in compliance with the guarantees and conditions of the reception conditions directive).
   
• The Asylum and Migration Management Regulation (AMMR): This Regulation will replace the current Dublin regulation, clarifying the responsibility criteria and streamlining the rules for the transfer of an applicant. A new solidarity mechanism will be established, combining mandatory solidarity to support Member States who cannot cope with the number of irregular arrivals into their territory with flexibility for Member States as regards the choice of their contributions (relocations, financial contributions or alternative solidarity measures).
   
• The Screening Regulation: This Regulation will strengthen controls of persons at external borders. It also applies to persons apprehended on EU territory who have escaped external border controls. The screening will include identification, health and security checks, as well as fingerprinting and registration in the Eurodac database. Member States will have to put in place an independent mechanism to monitor respect for fundamental rights during screening.
   
• The Eurodac Regulation: This Regulation will expand the Eurodac fingerprint database. Eurodac will contain additional biometric data, such as facial images. Other personal data that will be collected include a person’s name, date of birth, nationality and the date and place of application of international protection. Data of beneficiaries of temporary protection will also be registered in Eurodac. Persons resettled under national or EU resettlement schemes will be registered in Eurodac as well.
   
• The Crisis and Force majeure Regulation: This Regulation allows Member States to address situations of crisis in the field of asylum and migration. In a crisis or force majeure situation, Member States may be authorised to deviate from certain rules concerning the asylum and the return procedure. A Member State facing a crisis situation may also request solidarity contributions from other EU countries. 

Once these proposals are formally adopted by the European Parliament and Council, the pillars of the New Pact on Migration and Asylum will be in place. Then, specific legislative acts will be adopted, and the Commission will assist Member States in implementing the new rules in their national legislation.

For further information, please read the news article from the European Commission and the press conference on the Pact on Migration and Asylum. You can also read the press release from the Council of the European Union and the timeline for the Migration and Asylum Pact.

The Secretary of State for Asylum and Migration, Nicole de Moor, has reacted to this agreement, stating inter alia that the Pact, once fully implemented, would ensure reduced asylum pressure in Belgium: "The fair contribution that Belgium must make in the context of mandatory solidarity basically amounts to 3.2% of the whole. Applied to the influx into the European Union this year, Belgium's fair share would amount to 11.400 asylum seekers (January-November period). That is approximately one-third of the actual number of asylum applications in Belgium in that period (31.500)".

For further information, please read the press release from Nicole de Moor (in Dutch).