Migrants are rescued by the Tunisian coast guard in the offshore area between Tunisia and Italy on August 10, 2023. (Photo: AFP/VNA)

The rules include speedier vetting of arrivals, border detention centers, accelerated deportation of rejected asylum applicants, and a solidarity mechanism to take pressure off southern countries experiencing big inflows of migrants.

Under the mechanism, some asylum seekers will be relocated to other EU states, while countries that refuse to take them in will make a financial or material contribution to those that do.

Roberta Metsola, president of the European Parliament, said, “I start from a personal angle. You know, I come from an island in the Mediterranean, and I know exactly what it means when we say that we have finally delivered on the migration and asylum pact – probably the most important legislative deal of this mandate. It was the number one concern of our citizens in 2019, and it remains the number one concern for many.”

The agreement still needs to be formally approved by the European Council and the European Parliament before it becomes law, likely in 2024.

In the first 11 months of this year, the EU border agency Frontex registered 355,000 irregular border crossings, an increase of 17%. The number of asylum-seekers this year could top one million, according to the EU Agency for Asylum.