The EU New Pact on Migration and Asylum deepens the normalisation of racist migration policy, dismantling human rights for people on the move.

The latest round of talks on the pact, on 7 December, between the European Parliament, the European Commission and the Council concluded with very few points agreed, but moved dangerously towards stripping away the individual right to asylum in the EU. The Migration Pact will not stop people fleeing due to persecution, war and poverty. It will only institutionalise and legalise violence, persecution and racism.

Following the discussions with the Council, the Left in the European Parliament reiterates its strong opposition to the abuses that would be enshrined in the Pact. 

Left MEP Cornelia Ernst (Die Linke, Germany) commented on the negotiations: 

“What we were witnessing in the negotiations is theatre. The Council refused to make any concessions to the Parliament on important issues. The Council refuses to exempt families from border procedures and wants to lock up children at the external borders. They insist on the concept of “instrumentalisation” to be included in the Crisis Regulation. This concept is a Trojan horse that Member States will abuse to make the exception the rule. In doing so, they will fully undermine the right to asylum. As no final agreement was reached, the final showdown will take place on December 18. This could go down in the history of the EU as a historic bow to the right-wing populists. It is already clear that the New Pact will not solve the challenges of European migration policy in practice. On the contrary, it legalises years of violations of EU asylum law by the member states. This will severely damage the rule of law in the EU.”

Left MEP Malin Björk (Vänsterpartiet, Sweden) declared: 

“The member states want more people to be included in Eurodac and give access to this huge database to a large number of state authorities. This is not compatible with the principles of proportionality, purpose limitation and integrity. Even if there is not yet a completely finished agreement between the Council and the EU Parliament, it is already clear that this is not something we in the Left can support.”

Left MEP Konstantinos Arvanitis (Syriza, Greece) said:

“The outcome of yesterday’s trilogue on the New Migration and Asylum Pact seems disastrous. On the Crisis file we don’t seem to be reaching an agreement that we, as the Left,  could support. Yet one more time, Europe is failing to provide actual solidarity, the protection of the member states of first entry, like Greece, and the right to asylum and international protection. Our red lines are and will remain the mandatory relocation in times of crisis and the inclusion of the concept of instrumentalisation in this file. We will keep on fighting.”

A new round of negotiations in a trilogue is planned for 18 December, with pressure from the Commission and the Council to reach a deal before the end of the year.