EU reaches agreement on reforming migration and asylum policies

The agreement, which still needs formal approval from the European Council and the European Parliament, follows lengthy negotiations that began on the afternoon of December 18. It covers a range of large and complex issues that require compromise on both sides, such as detention periods, unaccompanied minors, search and rescue operations and border monitoring.

Spain, which holds the rotating EU presidency, said a political agreement had been reached on five aspects of the EU's new pact on migration and asylum.

The reforms include speeding up checks on irregular migrants, creating border detention centres, speeding up deportations of rejected asylum seekers and establishing a solidarity mechanism to ease pressure on southern African countries facing large waves of migrants.

The reform is based on a proposal put forward by the European Commission (EC) three years ago, which would maintain the current principle that the first EU country an asylum seeker enters is responsible for their case.

However, to support countries at the frontline facing large numbers of migrants, such as the Mediterranean countries of Italy, Greece and Malta, a mandatory solidarity mechanism was set up to share the burden with these countries. This means that other EU countries will accept a certain number of migrants or contribute financial support if they refuse to accept them.

In addition, the screening and vetting process for asylum seekers will also be accelerated so that migrants who do not meet the criteria can be quickly repatriated or returned to transit points.

"Migration is a common European challenge and today's decision will allow us to tackle it together," said EC President Ursula von der Leyen.

In a statement on the same day, German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock welcomed the agreement, stressing that this would ensure the new asylum system would be implemented in a "fair and orderly" manner.

The EU is facing a growing number of irregular migrants and asylum seekers. The EU border agency Frontex has registered over 355,000 irregular border crossings into the bloc since the beginning of the year, up 17%. The EU refugee agency says the number of asylum seekers could reach 1 million this year.