The European Parliament initiated discussions on a groundbreaking legislative proposal aimed at revamping the EU’s asylum and migration regulations, setting the stage for a pivotal vote with uncertain results.
Birgit Sippel, the lead lawmaker guiding the new “asylum and migration pact,” acknowledged that the proposed legislation might not be flawless but stressed its significance as an initial stride towards distributing responsibility and tackling migrant resettlement issues.
The new Migration and Asylum Pact is a package of 10 laws drawn up after years of negotiations that aim to get European Union countries — all with different national priorities — to act together on the issue of migration, using the same rulebook.
If just one of the laws is rejected the whole package would fail — though it is likely that would trigger last-minute haggling.
The European Parliament’s main political groups have indicated they will back the package. Parties on the far right and far left, though, are against one or more of the laws.
Migrant charities and non-governmental organizations have also come out against the pact, seeing it as a bid to buttress “Fortress Europe” and make it much harder for refugees to seek protection.
“It’s a vote that is not a given,” acknowledged Fabienne Keller, a French lawmaker in the parliament’s centrist Renew group who shepherded one of the texts through.
The failure of one text could sink the entire package, she said, even though “a democratic majority in the European Parliament supports it”.
