EU migrant pact hailed by Italian gov't, slammed by groups

Rome [Italy], December 21: The European Union's (EU) New Pact on Migration and Asylum has been welcomed by government officials in Italy -- one of the countries that pushed hardest for such an agreement. However, non-governmental groups have warned the deal, hammered out on Wednesday, will have a dire impact on refugees.
The European Commission said the pact "establishes a common approach to migration and asylum that is based on solidarity, responsibility, and respect for human rights."
Specifically, it creates uniform rules for identifying potential asylum seekers, develops a common database on these individuals, streamlines the asylum process, creates a "solidarity mechanism" to help spread the impact of new arrivals, and lays out a framework for future migrant-related crises. Negotiations on the pact began in 2020.
Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani said the agreement shows that Italy has obtained important results on migrants. Interior Minister Matteo Piantedosi said that Europe and Italy could now "count on new rules to manage migratory flows and to combat human traffickers."
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, who has led the push for a pan-European agreement on migration, is recovering from an illness and has not commented on the new deal.
However, the agreement has been criticized for being unbalanced and unfair to potential migrants with a right to claim asylum in the EU.
"This agreement will set back European asylum law for decades to come. Its likely outcome is a surge in suffering on every step of a person's journey to seek asylum in the EU," said Eve Geddie, director of the European Institutions Office for Amnesty International.
"The pact will almost certainly cause more people to be put into de facto detention at EU borders, including families with children and people in vulnerable situations," Geddie said.
The EU has seen a dramatic increase in the number of would-be asylum seekers landing on its shores this year.
Irregular crossings at the EU's external borders increased by 17 percent in the first 11 months of this year to over 355,300, surpassing full-year totals in any year since 2016, the European Border and Coast Guard Agency has said.
Most of these migrants have arrived via various sea routes, and around 153,500, or nearly 60 percent of total sea arrivals have landed in Italy via the deadly Mediterranean route from Tunisia or Libya.
Source: Xinhua