A new migration pact from the EU and a resolute “no” from Poland

The Pact provides for comprehensive regulation of migration issues in the European Union, in particular the issue of assistance to those countries that are under special migration pressure.

Three countries voted against the pact – Poland, Slovakia and Hungary.

Online Council of the EU it is reported that this landmark reform will establish a series of rules that will help to manage the flow of refugees in an orderly manner, create unified procedures for accepting them and ensure a fair distribution of the migration burden among member states.

European solidarity?

The main concept of the reform is the solidarity of countries in the distribution of migration flows.

According to its design, it should strengthen the responsibility of the states that until now almost did not accept refugees. This approach, first of all, should ease the burden on the countries that traditionally receive many asylum seekers from the Mediterranean – Italy, Greece and Spain.

The EU country on whose territory a person is first registered can transfer refugees who have a good chance of obtaining asylum to other EU member states. It is expected that at least 30,000 people will be distributed to other countries annually. The migration reform also provides that EU countries will in the future be able to choose between accepting asylum seekers and providing financial compensation. If a state, such as Hungary, refuses to accept refugees, it must pay compensation or send equipment and personnel to the receiving countries. The compensation should be PLN 20,000 per rejected migrant. The compensation system is currently not clearly defined by law and will be negotiated by member states on a case-by-case basis. If the country feels “overloaded”, it may demand more support and solidarity. All 27 countries jointly decide whether the situation is really a “crisis”. So there is enough room for political disputes and speculations here.

Identification will become tougher

The new migration rules require that all refugees, upon arrival by land, sea or air, will be identified within seven days and registered in the enhanced Eurodac biometric database. The point is to determine whether a migrant who has been refused in, say, Greece, re-applies for asylum in Austria or travels through several other countries. Then it will be easier to deport such an asylum seeker to the country of entry, and from there to the country of origin.

Migrants from countries with less than 20 percent of successful applications for protection will be held at the border for up to twelve weeks. They are planned to be accommodated in reception camps to be set up in Greece, Italy, Malta, Spain, Croatia and Cyprus. Critics have already pointed out that the conditions of stay in such camps will be close to those of prisons. Some of the new arrivals may be sent back to their country of origin without further action.

“Safe” dangerous countries

With the new migration laws, the EU gains more space in the classification of safe countries of origin to which refugees can be deported. In the future, even certain parts of the country may be classified as safe. Observers expect that part of Syria will fall under this resolution and more people will be able to return there.

Criticism of “solidarity”

Critics consider the pact on asylum and migration a “sell-out” of European values. They point out that the right to asylum is under threat and fear that the most vulnerable people will be deprived of protection.

The biggest opponents of the new migration pact are Poland and Hungary, which oppose measures of “mandatory solidarity”.

Minister of Finance Andrzej Domanski, head of the Polish government, told reporters before the vote that the provisions of the pact do not sufficiently take into account the balance between responsibility and solidarity. In particular, they ignore the specifics of countries bordering, for example, Belarus, and countries facing growing pressure from the so-called hybrid war.

The Prime Minister of Poland spoke even more harshly and categorically on this matter Donald Tusk:

“Poland will not accept any migrants under the EU migration pact, Poland has accepted hundreds of thousands of migrants in connection with the Russian-Ukrainian war, as well as migrants from Belarus. Poland will become a beneficiary of the migration pact.”

As the quality Polish publication writes “Vyborcha newspaper”,  “The pact will not reduce the number of people trying to reach Europe. This is just a propaganda concession of the European Parliament majority to the radical right before the June elections to the European Parliament.”

What’s next?

EU member states now have two years to introduce new laws and build asylum centers at their borders. Countries that have taken in the most refugees in Europe, including Germany, will be able to feel relief in the future. However, currently many issues remain open and are being discussed in working groups. Among them are questions about what will happen to people who have been “rejected” at the external borders of the EU, who will manage the reception camps and what mechanisms will ensure the proportional participation of all states.

Most of the norms will come into force only from 2026.