1 Reinforced controls
From June 12, the EU is putting in place a new “screening” procedure for migrants arriving at the EU’s external borders. The fingerprints, photo and identity documents of asylum seekers and migrants will be recorded in a database – which is not yet fully operational.
These people will be subject to identification and security checks, which may last up to seven days. At the end of which they will be directed towards an asylum procedure – classic or accelerated – or returned to their country of origin or transit. NGOs fear that most migrants, including children, will be detained during this entire process.
2 Demands d’asile examinées á la borderi¨re
Certain asylum applications may be processed directly at the border, as long as they are considered unlikely to be successful. This will particularly concern nationals of countries to which the EU rarely grants refugee status, such as Morocco, Tunisia or Bangladesh. Or people “posing a security risk”. Examinations of asylum applications at the border can last up to twelve weeks.
3 A new solidarity mechanism
The idea behind this reform is “to respond to the awareness resulting from the migration crisis of 2015-2016, with strong tensions between member states on who should be responsible for whom”, explains Camille Le Coz, from the Migration Policy Institute Europe think tank. The new system therefore also reforms how asylum seekers are distributed between EU countries.
In order to relieve countries along migratory routes, such as Greece or Italy, other member states will now have to commit each year to relocating a certain number of asylum seekers on their soil. Or, failing that, to pay a financial contribution of 20,000 euros per asylum seeker to countries under pressure. A minimum of 30,000 relocations are required each year.
4 Crisis situation
The reform also provides for a response in the event of a massive and exceptional influx of migrants into an EU state, such as during the refugee crisis of 2015-2016. A solidarity mechanism will then be quickly triggered in favor of the state concerned and an exceptional regime will be put in place, less protective for asylum seekers than in the usual procedures.
The new text also applies to situations of “instrumentalization”, that is to say cases where a “third country or a non-state actor” uses migration to destabilize an EU country.
5 “Return hubs”
This titanic law drastically reforms the management of migrant arrivals in the EU. But just a few months after its adoption, EU countries demanded another text, this time designed to streamline expulsions. It was examined and adopted forcefully and notably allows the creation of centers for rejected asylum seekers, outside the EU.
These “return hubs” are highly acclaimed by several European countries such as Denmark, Austria and Germany, which are already looking into the terms of their installation and opening. Among the avenues considered: Rwanda, Uganda and even Uzbekistan. An idea that makes the left and NGOs bristle, worried about respect for human rights in these structures.
