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Jorrit Rijpma: new EU migration pact has little impact on Dublin Agreement

On Wednesday 23 September, the European Commission presented its new migration pact, where EU countries will have to improve cooperation in receiving and allocating migrants. Does this mean the end of refugee camps?

Jorrit Rijpma

The Dublin Agreement, which requires asylum seekers to apply for asylum in their first country of arrival, remains a thorny issue, according to Jorrit Rijpma, Professor of European Law, in Dutch newspaper the Volkskrant. 'It seems that the Commission has tried to dismantle the Dublin ‘bomb’ by singling out certain parts. When migrants are rescued at sea and in the case of maritime operations, a fair allocation over the Member States could be directly carried out, but besides that nothing changes for the Dublin principle.’

The border procedure currently proposed would only ensure that people who clearly have no chance of a successful asylum application will be returned home faster, Rijpma continues. 'It is understandable that the Commission puts a focus on returning migrants in order to maintain support for its policy. But even now, it often fails to convince countries of origin to take their residents back.’

Read the full article (in Dutch) in the Volkskrant.

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