EU Migration Pact comes into force

The EU Pact on Migration and Asylum has entered into force across all EU Member States, establishing a new common framework for managing migration and asylum policy across the bloc.

The Pact introduces a comprehensive set of rules with a focus on strengthening external borders while balancing solidarity and responsibility among member states. It also provides financial support to countries experiencing increased pressure from irregular migration.

Speaking about the new framework, Deputy Minister of Migration and International Protection of Cyprus, Nicholas Ioannides, recalled the challenges of 2015, when the European Union was unprepared for a major influx of migrants.

“We don’t want that to happen again. And that is why we created a comprehensive legal framework in order to be in a position to address any future crisis in a more collective and more efficient manner,” Ioannides said.

European Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner said the new Pact would strengthen, rather than weaken, fundamental rights, despite some public perceptions to the contrary.

“With clearer and more effective rules, we are actually protecting people first of all, with our whole route-based approach — not just starting at the end, but at the beginning, and looking at the entire route so that people don’t put their lives in danger coming via the Mediterranean Sea or Atlantic route,” Brunner said.