Morning-to-midnight negotiations on reforms of the EU's Migration and Asylum Pact failed to reach an agreement this week, with talks set to resume on 18 December, just days after an EU summit.
If approved, eight directives and regulations will be added to the EU's existing migration and asylum policy. The proposed reforms aim to accelerate the asylum process and replace the Dublin regulation with new screening processes and new crisis responses.
One file, 'Eurodac', is in the late stages of negotiations and would process the fingerprints and facial images of asylum seekers as young as six, using force if necessary.
Human rights groups decry the "dystopian" reforms as opening the way to racial profiling and discrimination. "The agreement now on the table would in many ways worsen existing legislation, and risks increasing suffering at European borders," said Eve Geddie, Director of Amnesty International’s EU Office. "It could increase de facto detention across the EU, reduce safeguards for asylum seekers, and normalise exceptions to the right to asylum at European borders."
In contrast, EU lawmakers are determined to make progress on the bill in a bid to forestall far-right election gains based on Europe's inability to handle migration. "The EU as a whole is perfectly capable of managing migration," Dutch MEP Sophie in't Veld (Renew) said in a statement. "For too long, national governments have blocked European migration policy. The predictable failure of that attitude has given extreme parties a lot of space and poisoned the debate."
What's at stake
Five key files, first proposed in 2020, are under the microscope. Firstly, the asylum and migration management regulation (AMMR) focuses on improving solidarity between Member States on the issues of relocation, financial contributions and providing personnel. Solidarity might expand to include search and rescue (SAR) missions at sea.
Reforms would also overhaul the response to "crisis moments" when exceptional and unexpected numbers of people arrive to Europe. Such a mechanism would increase the number of migrants moved into accelerated border procedure from 20% to 75%.
New screening regulation wants to identify people, determine their nationality, and fingerprint them before being processed.
In addition, a fast-track procedure would exist for people with no valid asylum claim, or whose country's successful asylum protection rate is below 20%.
No, it's time to put people first and keep children out of detention - not to rush through a #MigrationPact that harms people just to say we did something on migration. https://t.co/jDZTIQMQgT
— Platform for Undocumented Migrants (PICUM) (@picum_ngo) December 7, 2023
Eurodac in particular hits a nerve with civil liberties groups. According to Statewatch, the database is "a gross violation of the right to seek international protection, a chilling conflation of migration and criminality, and an out-of-control surveillance instrument." The current reforms envisage expanding Eurodac's usage to apply to children over the age of six.
Migrant organisations lament an erosion of children's rights, as well as a far too hasty approach in deciding such impactful legislation. Nevertheless, an agreement is likely to be found on 18 December given the political will to appear decisive and effective.
