Senate approves EU asylum pact, reviving rejected rules

The Dutch senate has voted in favor of the EU migration and asylum pact, with 43 of 74 senators (one was absent) voting in favour. The pact applies across the European Union from June 12.

The lower house had already backed the legislation. Tuesday’s vote in the upper house clears the last hurdle for implementation – even as ministers prepare a fresh package of national asylum measures to replace those rejected last month.

Six of the nine measures contained in the rejected emergency asylum law, drafted by former PVV asylum minister Marjolein Faber, overlap with the pact, broadcaster NOS reported.

What the pact will mean

The pact requires faster screening of new arrivals at the EU’s external borders, swifter returns of people without the right to stay, and allows member states to process asylum claims in safe countries outside the bloc.

It also sets a six-month limit on how long the immigration service IND can take to decide on an application. To meet that deadline, the IND has said it will prioritise new claims from June 12 – which is likely to mean longer waits for the 50,000 people whose applications are already in the system.

The reception centre in Ter Apel, already operating around 10% above its 2,000-person capacity, is expected to come under further pressure as the new registration scheme channels all new arrivals through Groningen.

At the same time, asylum minister Bart van den Brink of the centrist Christian Democrat CDA is pushing two replacement measures back onto the agenda after the April defeat: faster deportation of asylum seekers convicted of crimes, and the abolition of fines the IND has to pay when it misses decision deadlines.