ReliefWeb

Daphne Panayotatos

Introduction

An effective approach to asylum looks holistically at the experience of displacement and the extent of individuals’ protection needs, from life-saving aid at the moment of crisis to community support for building a new life. The European Union has a range of laws, policies, financial resources, and technical capacity to realize such an approach. Nevertheless, undermined by political dissonance, it has maintained an ad hoc, crisis-driven response. This leaves a few Member States bearing most of the pressure and many displaced people without adequate protection.

In September 2020, the European Commission presented a new EU Pact on Migration and Asylum, promising to overhaul this non-system and establish a coherent, comprehensive approach. Regrettably, the proposed Pact does little to correct for flaws in existing policies and practices. It fails by focusing on keeping people out of Europe rather than on realizing the right to seek protection. It institutionalizes an approach by which states, through their actions and inactions, have avoided effective responsibility-sharing and undermined asylum.

Eight months later, EU bodies and Member States continue discussing the Pact, with no agreement in sight. Nevertheless, the Commission has already begun rolling out strategies and action plans envisioned within the proposal. The EU also approved the budget for its new term, which includes funding for asylum and migration activities at regional and national levels. Even as negotiations on the Pact continue, Member States can take positive steps to improve the lives of asylum seekers and refugees and reverse course on policies that do harm.

Ultimately, however, Europe needs to establish a truly comprehensive, coordinated regional approach that is rights-based and people-centered. The proposed Pact fails to apply the difficult lessons of the past, but the opportunity for real reform is not lost. The EU’s Council, Parliament, and Commission can find sustainable solutions that serve the interests of displaced people, host communities, and states. They must consider each element of the Pact within the broader context of a European approach to building inclusive societies. Expanding the lens—to incorporate everything from how the EU addresses root causes of displacement to the accessibility of legal migration pathways—reveals the gaps and inconsistencies, as well as the opportunities, in the effort to reform the EU asylum system.