European Union Agrees on New Rules for Hosting Migrants

The European Union reached an agreement early this Wednesday morning on new rules aimed at sharing the costs and hosting of migrants more equitably, as well as reducing the number of arrivals. After negotiations that lasted throughout the night, representatives from the European Parliament and the governments of the EU bloc agreed on a set of laws collectively called the "New Pact on Migration and Asylum," which is set to come into effect next year. The laws cover the screening of illegal migrants upon their arrival in the EU, procedures for handling asylum applications, rules for determining which EU member state is responsible for processing applications, and methods for managing crises. The number of migrants arriving in the EU has significantly declined from a peak of over one million in 2015, but it has steadily increased from a low in 2020 to 255,000 since the beginning of this year through November, with more than half of them crossing the Mediterranean from Africa to Italy or Malta.