Reform of the EU s asylum and migration system

In 2019, after the European elections, the CEAS reform proposals were carried over to the new Parliament, which reconfirmed rapporteurs or assigned new ones for each of the legislative files. The reform of the EU asylum system was relaunched in 2020 with the publication of the Commission’s new pact on migration and asylum.
By June 2023, the European Parliament had adopted reports on most of the reform proposals – although the draft report on the Schengen Borders Code is yet to be voted, and the draft report on the proposal on instrumentalisation of migration is still being prepared. In line with the gradual approach proposed by the French Presidency of the Council in 2022, the Member States focused on reform aspects related to the screening and registration of migrants arriving at the border. In June 2022, the Council adopted a negotiating mandate on the proposed screening regulation and the recast Eurodac Regulation, as well as a general approach on the revision of the Schengen Borders Code. Eighteen Member States (as well as Norway, Switzerland and Liechtenstein) endorsed a political Solidarity Declaration establishing a temporary solidarity mechanism intended to provide a concrete response to the migratory difficulties faced by the Member States of first entry. Based on the 2018 provisional agreement, in December 2022, the Council amended its negotiating mandates for three proposals from the CEAS package: a regulation establishing a Union Resettlement Framework, a regulation on standards for the qualification of third-country nationals or stateless persons as beneficiaries of international protection, and the recast of the directive laying down standards for the reception of applicants for international protection. A provisional agreement with the European Parliament was reached, but the final adoption of these files depends on progress on other asylum files. The Council has yet to adopt its position on the proposals concerning the crisis and force majeure regulation and the instrumentalisation of migration.
In June 2023, the Council adopted general approaches for the proposals on migration management and the asylum procedure, which is set to unblock the legislative process, potentially leading to the finalisation of the reform before the next European elections in June 2024 (the target agreed between the co-legislators).