In brief
The Pact on Migration and Asylum came into force on 12 June 2026, introducing stricter external border controls, faster screenings, and the possibility of detention for migrants during processing.
A European Policy Centre report says the Commission President's attempt to divide far-right groups by engaging ECR while shunning PfE and ESN has backfired, coinciding with the pact's launch.
Critics say the reforms could undermine the right to seek refuge, lead to more deportations, and create 'return hubs' outside EU territory.
The 2015 Syrian war triggered 2.3 million irregular EU entries, exposing failures in border controls and solidarity, culminating in the new legislation.
Far-right groups argue the new measures do not go far enough in cracking down on irregular migration, adding to the political polarisation around the issue.
What the pact changes
The Migration and Asylum Pact, the result of years of tough negotiations, introduces mandatory security and health screenings for all irregular arrivals within days. Migrants may be detained during the process. The rules also aim to discourage internal border checks by allowing member states to accept financial or technical contributions instead of accepting relocated asylum seekers — a system Brussels calls “flexible solidarity.” Additionally, the EU is exploring “return hubs” outside its borders to accelerate deportations. Despite these measures, many EU states continue to resist hosting relocated asylum seekers, casting doubt on the solidarity mechanism.
A decade of pressure
The overhaul follows the 2015 migration emergency, when Syria’s civil war triggered the largest movement of people across Europe since the Second World War. Over a two-year span, 2.3 million irregular entries were recorded, many across the Mediterranean and Balkan routes. That influx overwhelmed frontline states like Greece and Italy, exposed fatal gaps in border screenings, and shattered trust in the Dublin Regulation, which required asylum seekers to apply in the first EU country they entered. The image of three-year-old Aylan Kurdi, washed ashore on a Turkish beach in September 2015, became a lasting symbol of the human cost.
Von der Leyen’s divided far-right strategy
The pact’s entry into force arrives alongside new scrutiny of Commission President Ursula von der Leyen’s political tactics. A European Policy Centre report by researchers Javier Carbonell, Tabea Schaumann and Levente Kocsis argues that von der Leyen has pursued a double-edged approach to the far right — engaging the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) while keeping Patriots for Europe (PfE) and Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN) at arm’s length.
“One of the main strategic approaches of Von der Leyen’s second mandate has been to approach certain parts of the far right, while continuing to exclude others. This has occurred especially in the case of members of the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) group, while continuing to reject Patriots for Europe (PfE) and Europe of Sovereign Nations (ESN).”
The strategy, intended to split the far-right bloc, has been deemed a failure by the authors, who note that the broader normalization of extreme-right positions has accelerated as the EU’s conservative mainstream adopted them.
Critics and defenders weigh in
Reactions to the pact span a wide spectrum. Human rights organizations, including the International Rescue Committee, warn the new rules could undermine refugee protections and lead to more deportations. Hard-right parties counter that the pact is too weak to curb irregular migration. An Al Jazeera panel discussion on the pact’s viability featured Marta Welander of the IRC, Nathalie Tocci of Johns Hopkins, and Pieter Cleppe of BrusselsReport.eu, underscoring the deep divisions that still surround EU migration policy.