EU States To Tackle Migration, Asylum Crises

EU Member States have come to an agreement on overhauling their rules on responding to big increases in irregular migration.

The deal came after weeks of haggling over the EU’s crisis mechanism and after a steep rise in arrivals on the Italian island of Lampedusa.

Under the plan, Countries facing crisis would be able to request “solidarity contributions” from other States.

European Commission Head Ursula von der Leyen praised “a real game changer”.

She said the deal meant that talks could move forward with the European Parliament, with the aim of securing a migration pact in time for European Parliament elections in June 2024.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz spoke of a “historic turning point”.

Pressure for a pan-EU deal has been building for some time, because of a sharp rise in the number of refugees and migrants crossing the Mediterranean to Europe this year.

Almost 190,000 have reached the shores of southern Europe, including 133,000 in Italy, while at least 2,500 are thought to have died trying to get there, according to UN figures.