With tensions surging across Europe, new immigration policies have now been implemented, aiming to create a safer, more balanced asylum system.
The EU’s Pact on Asylum and Migration entered into application on June 12, 2026, making it the bloc’s most significant overhaul of migration policy in recent years. The pact was agreed upon back in May 2024, but member states were given a two-year window to prepare before the new rules were fully applied.
EU Commissioner for Internal Affairs and Migration Magnus Brunner called it the moment Europe “puts its house in order,” arguing the pact “creates the conditions for us to decide who can come to Europe, who can stay, and who must leave.”
The timing is notable too, with migration remaining one of the most politically charged issues in the region.
What’s changing
The pact is made up of ten separate pieces of legislation, but the practical changes can be narrowed down to a few main policies.
New screening procedures will register and check the background of people arriving at EU borders before they even enter the asylum process; asylum decisions are meant to move faster, particularly for applicants from countries with low approval rates; and the Eurodac database – which stores fingerprints and biometric data – has been expanded so member states can track movements between countries with greater ease.
A new solidarity mechanism has also been implemented, designed to share the burden of migration more evenly across the bloc. Countries facing high numbers of arrivals can request support from others, either in the form of relocating asylum seekers, financial contributions, or other resources.
Brunner also extended this goal to countries outside the EU: “The next step will be to get more engaged with third countries outside the European Union, to work together with them on readmission, and returns also.”
The pact’s origins can be traced back to the 2015 migration crisis, when a sudden surge in arrivals exposed how unprepared the EU’s existing rules were.
Southern nations such as Italy and Greece argued for years that they were left to handle the bulk of arrivals alone, while countries further north and east, including Hungary and Poland, resisted any system that forced them to accept mandatory quotas.
The pact represents a compromise between these positions, though not everyone is convinced it’s the right one.
Supporters and critics
With irregular border crossings having fallen by 55% compared to 2024 figures, the pact looks to further stabilise the number of illegal immigrants arriving in Europe, using the new approach alongside a fully operational Entry-Exit System and tougher returns policy.
But human rights organisations have warned for years that the Union prioritises deterrence over protection. Groups including the European Council on Refugees in Exile (ECRE) have raised concerns that fast-track border procedures could see vulnerable people, including families with children, processed and potentially detained in conditions ill-suited for them.
The pact represents the EU’s biggest attempt yet to build a unified migration system, but laws on paper and laws in practice are different things. With implementation now underway across 27 member states, each with their own political pressures and capacities, the real test of whether this pact changes anything begins now.
Featured image: via Voice of Youth for Change in Europe
Author: Sandor Csudai
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