Welcome to the European Parliamentary Research Service podcasts.

Few topics have divided Europe as much in recent years as migration and asylum.

So today we'll be talking about the new pact on migration and asylum proposed by the Commission.

More specifically, the proposed new partnerships with third countries

to address Europe's migration challenges and opportunities.

In recent years, Europe has had to respond to the most severe migratory challenge since World War II.

In 2015, more than 1.8 million irregular migrants, most of them

claiming for asylum, knocked on Europe's doors, exposing the flaws of the European asylum

system and weakening solidarity between member states. By 2019, and thanks in part to the 2016

EU-Turkey deal, irregular arrivals had dropped to 140,000,

its lowest level in six years, and 92% below the peak of the migratory crisis.

Let's hear the Commissioner in charge of Home Affairs, Ilver Johansson.

Last year, 140,000 irregular arrivals, and a minority of them, one third were refugees.

The others are not refugees, and they will have a negative asylum decision and a return decision.

And that shows also what we need to address better, is the effectiveness on returns and

readmission to the countries of origin.

There's no doubt the situation has improved, and yet despite migration no longer being an

emergency nor the main concern of EU citizens, it remains an important political priority for the EU.

So what has Europe done to prevent the 2015 drama from repeating itself in the future?

Building on previous work, the Commission proposed in 2020 a new pact on migration and asylum

to reinforce solidarity among the member states and to strengthen management

and asylum procedures.

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