(Politico) EU lawmakers on Thursday gave the green light to a central plank of the EU’s flagship migration package, the latest sign of progress on long-stalled reforms.
The European Parliament measure endorses new rules seeking to speed up the return of migrants who entered Europe without permission and to prevent these migrants from traveling to other countries within the EU.
And it strikes a middle ground on the contentious question of whether countries will be required to take in asylum seekers from fellow EU members — a step EU border countries traditionally favor but others often oppose. The approved text only foresees such “mandatory relocations” in emergency situations, which Brussels would determine, with all other relocations being voluntary.
