(CN) — The European Parliament on Wednesday narrowly passed a contentious set of laws to tighten the EU's borders against migrants and spread the burden of handling asylum claims across the bloc.
The overhaul to the EU's asylum system centered on speeding up deportations of people deemed undeserving of protection and was hailed as a major achievement for Brussels because it came after years of acrimonious debates among the EU's 27 member states.
In all, the parliament passed 10 laws that make up the EU's “New Pact on Migration and Asylum.”
“It has been more than 10 years in the making,” said Roberta Metsola, a center-right politician from Malta and the parliament's president. “But we kept our word. A balance between solidarity and responsibility. This is the European way.”
Dealing with large number of refugees and migrants who seek to enter the EU is one of Europe's most toxic political issues and it's led to the rise of far-right anti-immigrant parties across the bloc.
Getting the bills passed, then, was seen as politically critical for Europe's mainstream parties that want to be seen as doing something to address migration — especially ahead of June elections for the European Parliament, where far-right parties are expected to make unprecedented gains.
The European Parliament's approval was in doubt in the run-up to the vote. Parliamentary groups on the far left and far right assailed the bills for opposite reasons, one side calling them too harsh on asylum seekers and the other side saying they don't go far enough to stop the influx of migrants.
But the parliament's biggest groups — the center-right European People's Party, the center-left Socialists and Democrats and the liberals with Renew Europe — backed the laws, even though human rights groups warn they will make the lives of asylum-seekers even worse.
“It is clearer than ever that this EU Pact on Migration and Asylum will set back European asylum law for decades to come, lead to greater suffering, and put more people at risk of human rights violations at every step of their journeys,” Eve Geddie, Amnesty International's director of advocacy in Europe, said ahead of the vote.
Last June, EU nations and institutions announced they'd reached a deal on reforming migration rules — The pact now will need to be approved by the European Council, a body made up of the EU's 27 heads of state, and adopted by national parliaments.
Its passage into law is likely following Wednesday's critical vote.
Under this new system, now expected to go into effect in two years, governments will be allowed to process applications for asylum at special centers near EU borders where people cross. There, officials will be able to deport people deemed ineligible for asylum within a week and will be allowed to send migrants to countries deemed safe outside the bloc where they lived or worked prior to making it into the EU.
For example, Italy might be allowed to send many people who arrive on boats from Tunisia back to that North African country.
The pact also sets up a new “solidarity” system to make all 27 EU states share responsibility for assessing asylum applications and housing people under consideration for asylum.
Italy, Greece, Croatia and Spain complain about long-standing EU laws that say asylum claims must be processed by the country where a person first enters into the bloc, which has left these border countries overwhelmed and often unable to assess many claims. The new system does not change this requirement, but governments can demand help from other states when they declare they are overwhelmed by the number of asylum seekers.
Countries will not be obliged to take in a share of asylum seekers, though not doing so will incur a cost of 20,000 euros (about $21,500) for each person they refuse to take in.
That money will go into a fund slated for projects to help solve the root causes of migration. Vehemently anti-migrant leaders, such as Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, are expected to pay into the fund rather than accept asylum-seekers.
Last year, the EU received more than 1 million asylum applications, the most since 2016.
Large numbers of migrants continue to arrive with many making a dangerous sea crossing from North Africa to Italy on dinky vessels. This month, the Sicilian island of Lampedusa has reported an influx of migrants boats and that it was housing 977 asylum seekers on Sunday.
The law also toughens punishments for people who try to enter the bloc on false asylum claims; makes it harder for migrants to move from where they are processed to other EU states; and bolsters a fingerprinting database of asylum seekers, including children as young as six years old.
Courthouse News reporter Cain Burdeau is based in the European Union.
Follow @cainburdeau
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