On April 10, after lengthy negotiations to reform the European rules on asylum, the European Parliament plenary voted on the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum. The outcome raises concerns about potential negative impacts on thousands of people’s lives as the new rules clearly limit access to protection for those in need. Read Caritas Europa‘s statement calling on EU Member States to ensure that new #asylum rules guarantee decent reception standards and not blanket detention.
What’s wrong with the EU’s Pact on Migration?
Regretfully, the Pact failed to reform the dysfunctional Dublin system, which makes the EU country where an asylum seeker first arrives responsible for processing the asylum claim. The new rules rely instead on a complicated solidarity mechanism where EU Member States can literally pay to avoid the relocation of asylum seekers, which will not compensate for the increased responsibility that will fall on the Member States at the EU’s external border.
