by Carmine Conte & Başak Yavcan, Migration Policy Group
After over four years of negotiations, the much awaited new Pact on Migration and Asylum was finally adopted in the European Parliament on 10th April 2024, with 322 MEPs voting in favour of it (mostly MEPs of centre, centre-left and centre-right parties) and 266 MEPs voting against it (mostly those of further left and further right parties). The Pact incorporates a comprehensive approach to external borders, asylum and return systems, the Schengen area of free movement and the external dimension, and has been welcomed by Ylva Johansson as a ‘huge achievement’.
However, civil society organisations, researchers and experts have raised concerns about the detrimental impact of the pact on the right of migrants to claim asylum and on the overall functioning of the EU common asylum system. In this piece, drawing on MPG’s research in this area, we will identify key concerns related to the adoption of fast-track asylum and return procedures, the increasing use of detention, racial profiling, the effectiveness of stricter border controls and the so-called ‘external dimension’ of the pact, and the new solidarity mechanisms.