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EU countries agree to toughen asylum rules

2023-12-20 15:15:01, Kosova & Bota CNA

The member countries of the European Union and the European Parliament have agreed to toughen the asylum procedures, within the framework of the European reform of the asylum system.

The aim of the agreement is to reduce the rate of migration to the EU.

"We have come a long way to get here. But we made it. Europe is finally committed to migration", said the vice-president of the European Commission, Margaritis Schinas, in a post on X - the platform known until now as Twitter.

The President of the European Parliament, Roberta Metsola, said that this Wednesday "will go down in history".

"The day when the EU reached an agreement on new rules for managing migration and asylum".

The reform has been discussed since 2015, when a record number of migrants reached the EU.

Although countries with right-wing governments, such as Hungary, have been in favor of tightening the current rules, aid organizations and left-wing political parties in Europe have expressed concern about the degradation of human rights.

The reform "will guarantee that there is an effective European response to this European challenge", said the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen.

"This means that the Europeans will decide who comes to the EU, and who can stay here, not the smugglers," she said.

The reform envisages tougher rules for people arriving on EU territory from countries considered relatively safe.

Until a legal decision is made for them, the asylum seekers will be accommodated in several centers, under strict rules.

The German chancellor, Olaf Scholz, has welcomed the reform and said that it will stabilize the situation in some states.

"This agreement will limit illegal migration and ease the burden on some states that are particularly affected, including Germany," he said.

For the first time, EU countries will be obliged to participate in the so-called solidarity mechanism, to distribute migrants.

This means that if a country does not accept refugees, then that country must offer support to other countries in another way, for example, through financial compensation.

The agreement still needs to receive final confirmation in the plenary session of the European Parliament, and be signed by the EU member states, a process that is considered very formal./ REL