The European Union (EU) has agreed to make asylum rules stricter in a major change to the way the EU deals with people seeking protection, News About Nigeria gathered.
The new rules, announced on Wednesday, add more restrictions to reduce the number of people coming to the European Union in irregular ways.
European Commission Vice President Margaritis Schinas said this was a significant achievement, and Europe was finally dealing with migration.
The EU has been working on these changes since 2015, when a lot of people arrived in the EU looking for safety.
Under the new rules, people from countries seen as safe will be treated more strictly.
They will stay in special centers while waiting for a decision about their asylum request. The EU hopes this will make sure that people are not coming to Europe illegally.
“The negotiators agreed to undermine the right to seek asylum,” said German EU lawmaker Damian Boeselager, who is a member of the European Greens.
“This new system will make sure we have prison camps at our borders, and should have never been accepted.”
The reform also changes how the EU shares the responsibility of taking in people who need protection dubbed a solidarity mechanism.
If a country doesn’t want to take in refugees, they must provide support in a different way, like giving money.
While some people celebrated the agreement, others were not happy with it.
Some lawmakers said it could make it harder for people to ask for asylum, and they criticized the new rules.
Even though the European Parliament and EU member states still need to officially agree, most people expect them to accept the changes.
