BRUSSELS. «We have made history, we have created a solid legislative framework to manage migration and asylum in the EU. More than ten years of work have passed. But we kept our word, and found a balance between solidarity and responsibility. This is the European way.” The president of the European Chamber, Roberta Metsola, said this on X at the end of the vote in the EP on the Pact for Migration and Asylum.
The ten texts that make up the pact (common procedure for international protection in the EU; response to crisis situations and force majeure; management of asylum and migration; repatriation procedure at the border; checks on third-country nationals at the borders external systems; European information system on criminal records for citizens of third countries; Eurodac regulation; EU framework for resettlement; rules on the award of international protection; rules on the reception of applicants for international protection) all passed with fairly consistent margins. The stricter one, response to crisis situations and force majeure, was approved with 301 votes in favour, 272 against and 46 abstentions.
«No Member State will be left alone again to cope with pressure, whether it is in the Mediterranean or on another land route, whether it is those States dealing with secondary movements, or those States facing hybrid pressures and the exploitation of migration, as we have seen in recent months” Metsola said again. «This is a legislative recognition that concerns a European issue. We must have a European response.”
The President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, partially explains the contents: the Pact for Migration and Asylum introduces «a mechanism that guarantees aid to the states most under pressure, those at the external borders. The mandatory solidarity mechanism allows Member States to choose whether to relocate migrants either financially or operationally.”
Budapest protests: the Pact opens up to illegal immigration
The Hungarian Foreign Minister, Peter Szijjarto, defined the EU Pact on asylum and migration approved today by the European Parliament as “a green light for illegal immigration”. Hungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs reports this on X. The minister, highlights the spokesperson, stated that «regardless of any pact adopted by the European Parliament, Hungary will maintain its legal and physical barriers at the borders and will not allow the entry of illegal immigrants, opposing the position in favor of war and migration of the Brussels leadership”.