EU adopts historic new rules on asylum seekers

The European Union (EU) on Tuesday adopted a new set of rules aimed at easing the burden of member states on the frontline of migration, reported Xinhua.

The Pact is made up of ten new legislative acts, which will reform the entire European framework for asylum and migration management.

They include rules on the updated Eurodac database, and the regulations on screening, the asylum procedure, the return border procedure, and asylum and migration management, as well as regulations on resettlement, crisis, qualification and reception conditions.

They will help determine which EU country is responsible for an asylum application, ensure a fairer sharing of responsibility among EU countries, and ensure that decisions on applications for international protection are made fairly and efficiently. The texts also propose a two-year EU resettlement and humanitarian plan, and help EU countries resettle people across the EU.

"The European Union will also continue its close cooperation with third countries to tackle the root causes of irregular migration," said Nicole de Moor, Belgian State Secretary for Asylum and Migration, whose country currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU Council.

The reception conditions directive, qualification regulation and EU resettlement framework were first proposed in 2016, immediately after the migrant crisis that took place across Europe in 2015. Other regulations were proposed in 2020.

The EU member states will have two years to implement the new laws.