Vita gazette – The home affairs ministers of the European Union agreed Thursday on revised immigration and asylum rules.

The home affairs ministers of the European Union agreed Thursday on revised immigration and asylum rules, Maria Malmer Stenergard, the minister for migration of Sweden, which holds the presidency of the Council of the EU, said. Stating that the ministers agreed on the two main pillars of the EU’s asylum system reform, Stenergard noted that a good balance was established between “responsibility” and “solidarity” for distributing asylum seekers among member states.

Safe third country concept

Stating that there is no list of safe countries, that it will be reviewed and that member states will decide on the safe country concept following their assessments, Stenergard said that factors such as whether asylum seekers have family members or have settled in that country would be considered.

Stenergard said the deal would not burden member states on the EU’s external borders and provide a quick assessment for applicants, adding:

“Border procedures will allow for rapid assessment of asylum applications lodged at the external borders by people with low acceptance rates. This will help to repatriate unqualified people quickly. This will also prevent abuse of the asylum system and reduce the number of asylum seekers ineligible for protection.”

The Swedish minister said only Poland and Hungary opposed the deal, while the remaining 25 members provided a qualified majority.

Stressing that the new legislation will be valid for all member states after it enters into force, Johansson, the EU Commission member responsible for home affairs, said: “In the end, the institution that will ensure the implementation of the legislation and the guardian of the agreement is the Commission. Some specific actions have also been created to ensure that this happens.” he said.

Since the 2015 migration crisis, the EU has sought solutions to distributing asylum seekers among member states and returning those whose asylum applications have been rejected. The “migration and asylum package” prepared by the EU Commission with this objective could not be accepted due to the different attitudes of the member states.

Last year, during the EU Presidency, France adopted the ‘phased approach’ to take the package forward, and progress has been made on two elements of the box, namely strengthening the EU’s external borders and establishing a solidarity mechanism between member states.

At the EU leaders’ summit on 9 and 10 February, the European Commission brought migration back to its main agenda to achieve rapid progress on this deal.

2022 was recorded as the year the EU received unprecedented irregular migration from the migration crisis. In 2022, 330,000 irregular entries were made in the EU, corresponding to a 64 percent increase compared to the previous year.