***Dit expertinterview is in het Engels***
On 12 June 2026, the EU Pact on Migration and Asylum (the Pact) entered into application. Many politicians hope it will lower migrant inflows. Will enhanced European cooperation in the field of migration ensure effective border management, a fairer distribution of responsibilities among member states, more efficient procedures, and better conditions for refugees? Or does emphasising strict rules, reduced inflows, and return risk undermining our shared values? In short: to what extent is the Pact a solution? And for whom? Studio Europa spoke with Lilian Tsourdi, Professor and Jean Monnet Chair in European Migration Law and Governance at the Law Faculty of Maastricht University.
Tsourdi currently also works as Editor-in-Chief, together with the European Policy Centre (EPC), on the new Policy Brief Collection: New Perspectives on Migration. Read the first two briefs here.
A migrant crisis?
The assertion that Europe is undergoing a ‘migrant crisis’ is gaining traction across the political spectrum. Tsourdi argues this belief is factually incorrect. “Actually, we are seeing a governance crisis around migration, rather than a crisis of overwhelming, unmanageable numbers. The crisis discourse was normalised around 2015-2016, when many people fled the war in Syria. Since then, the discourse has remained largely the same. There is a paucity of opportunities for migrants to arrive legally. This is why people resort to irregular manners of arrival, which in turn leads them to be labelled as ‘illegals’. But often, this irregular entry into the EU was the only option available to them. Again, the question is one of laws, policies and management, not of absolute numbers.”
To illustrate the issue of mismanagement, Tsourdi emphasises: “Before the Pact, everything was compartmentalised. Asylum policy operated in a silo, separate from, for example, external border control policies. The authorities of EU Member States did not communicate. This generated a lot of complexity and operational blockages.” Therefore, the Pact seeks to build stronger links between the different aspects of migration policy.
Solidarity between EU Member States
The Pact is the first attempt at introducing a structural solidarity component within migration management. This means that there is an effort to share responsibilities more evenly among the Member States. Does that mean that an asylum seeker arriving in Italy can be sent directly to the Netherlands? “It is much more complex than that. First of all, the ‘regular’ or ‘legal’ entry route for people seeking protection is quite limited. There are only 10,000 places pledged in the EU’s official humanitarian admission and resettlement mechanism. Currently, only nine EU Member States are taking part in this mechanism, and these 10,000 people can be sent directly to any of them.”
Tsourdi explains what happens to the refugees who do not manage to get on this list: “All other asylum seekers have to enter the EU through irregular ways. Once they find themselves on EU territory, they can apply for protection. Most of these people enter the EU through Member States at the external borders, such as Italy and Greece. In most cases, the country of first entry remains the country responsible to examine an eventual asylum claim, or tasked with ensuring the return of a migrant if there are no protection needs. However, the Pact introduces a yearly assessment of solidarity needs. This is a structured bureaucratic exercise that generates a European Commission report identifying which EU Member States are under the most ‘pressure’. Based on this report, the Council will ask other EU Member States to pledge support. These pledges can take the form of relocation, financial assistance, and other technical assistance. Say, the Netherlands pledges support in terms of people sharing, then an asylum seeker can be relocated from Italy to the Netherlands.”
First results: indications of success?
Tsourdi does not believe that relocation will become the most popular option. “In the first round of the solidarity needs assessment, many EU Member States chose to contribute financially, rather than in terms of people sharing. What is more, the relocation mechanism is quite complex. Let us take Germany and Italy as an example. Some asylum seekers who arrive in Italy do not apply for asylum there, but continue their travel to Germany. In EU jargon, these are called ‘secondary movements’. Currently, Germany has decided to claim responsibility for some of these ‘secondary mover’ asylum seekers, instead of sending them back to Italy. In this manner, it subtracts that number from its relocation contribution.” Tsourdi worries that this will limit the Pact’s solidarity potential.
“The Pact is imperfect and Member States still have to build trust among each other, but for the first time, we have a comprehensive and lasting mechanism”
Tsourdi is hopeful, however, that the Pact will improve the governance of migration within the EU. “The Pact is imperfect and Member States still have to build trust among each other, but for the first time, we have a comprehensive and lasting mechanism. In the past, all solidarity was conducted on an ad hoc basis. It may sound ridiculous in retrospect, but there was a time in which Prime Ministers would phone each other to ask ‘I have a certain amount of people, will you take some?’”
Despite these improvements, Tsourdi does not believe that all problems will be solved. “The Pact remains a palliative solution. Member States on the EU’s external border still have different interests than a country like the Netherlands. Feelings of unfairness and distrust remain on both sides. This naturally creates disincentives for implementation. I think some Member States are likely to continue deflecting their responsibility. Implementing stricter asylum policies is one such example: it will not reduce the number of asylum seekers, but it may affect the proper functioning of the Pact mechanisms. In my view, the only true solution is further centralisation of the EU migration management system. After all, both asylum provision and border management are European regional public goods: they benefit all EU Member States, even if they are performed by only one Member State.”
Evangelia (Lilian) Tsourdi is Professor and Jean Monnet Chair in European Migration Law and Governance at the Law Faculty of Maastricht University and the Maastricht Centre for European Law. She is also the joint Editor-in-Chief of the International Journal of Refugee Law published by Oxford University Press.
Her research interests lie at the intersection of EU Law, Public International Law, and public policy/administration with a focus on human rights, asylum, migration, and governance theories.
