Luxembourg
\nEuropean Union ministers have agreed on a deal to overhaul the bloc\u2019s asylum procedures, which has eluded the bloc for nearly 10 years, after 12 hours of negotiations to obtain the go-ahead from front-line members Italy and Greece.
\nHome affairs ministers from the 27-member bloc reached an agreement on Thursday, which aims to end years of division dating back to 2015 when more than a million people, most of whom were fleeing war in Syria, reached the EU.
\n\u201cThis is a great, great achievement, showing that it\u2019s possible to work together on migration. We are so much stronger when we work together,\u201d the EU\u2019s home affairs commissioner, Ylva Johansson, said.
\nThe new asylum and migration management regulation (AMMR) is set to replace the current Dublin regulation and change how asylum seekers are processed at the EU\u2019s borders and how they are relocated across Europe.
\nThe Dublin regulation, an agreement originally signed in 1990 and revised three times, set out rules determining which member state was responsible for the examination of an asylum application.
\nBrussels-based news outlet Politico EU reported that a coalition of about 10 states led by Italy had blocked the agreement until late on Thursday, preventing the bloc from going ahead with the reform without the consent of a country receiving some of the highest numbers of asylum seekers in the EU.
\nLast-minute changes, including a cut in the number of people each state would be responsible for and laxer rules to send people back to countries outside of the EU, paved the way for the deal to be finalised ahead of a 2024 EU election.
\nNew rules
\nAccording to the newly agreed terms, each country would be responsible for a set number of people but would not necessarily have to take them in.
\nCountries unwilling to receive irregular migrants and refugees would be able to help their hosting peers through equipment, personnel or cash \u2013 about 20,000 euros ($21,500) per person.
\nItaly, Greece and Malta had initially issued demands for mandatory relocation of migrants from front-line countries.
\nThe reform also introduces a new expedited border procedure for those deemed unlikely to obtain asylum to prevent them from remaining inside the bloc for years.
\nPoland and Hungary opposed the deal, saying the bloc\u2019s national leaders should return to the matter when they meet later in June, but were outvoted by the majority.<\/p>\n
\u2018Unacceptable\u2019
\nHungarian government spokesman Zoltan Kovacs on Friday quoted Prime Minister Viktor Orban as saying the agreement was \u201cunacceptable\u201d.
\n\u201cBrussels is abusing its power. They want to relocate migrants to Hungary with force. This is unacceptable. They want to forcefully turn Hungary into a migrant country,\u201d Kovacs wrote on Twitter.
\nHosting immigrants has become an increasingly divisive issue in the bloc since 2015.
\nCountries on the EU\u2019s southern edge have long demanded more help to cope with the numbers of people arriving on their shores.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Luxembourg European Union ministers have agreed on a deal to overhaul the bloc\u2019s asylum procedures, which has eluded the bloc for nearly 10 years, after 12 hours of negotiations to obtain the go-ahead from front-line members Italy and Greece. Home affairs ministers from the 27-member bloc reached an agreement on Thursday, which aims to end […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":205131,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[3501],"class_list":["post-336568","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-world","tag-european-union"],"yoast_head":"\n