Another EU Misstep: The Migration Pact

Another EU Misstep

So, here we are again. Another grand EU plan that’s less of a solution and more of a slow-motion disaster waiting to happen. This time, it’s the Migration Pact - officially called the "Pact on Migration and Asylum," entered into force on June 11, 2024, but the full application of its regulations will begin on June 12, 2026 after a two-year transition period.

You’ve probably heard it framed as some noble effort to share the burden of migration across Europe. Spoiler alert: it’s not.

Let’s rewind to 2015. Angela Merkel declares "Wir schaffen das!". Translation: "We can handle this!" More or less just like that, the gates swing open. Over a million migrants pour into Europe. Human traffickers rake in cash, borders buckle, and the headlines are filled with both harrowing tragedies and spiraling chaos. Fast forward almost a decade, and instead of learning from those mistakes, the EU has come up with a system that’s as flawed as it is cynical.

Solidarity or Extortion?

Here’s the gist: every EU country now has a choice. Either take in migrants according to a set quota, finance operational support, like staff and equipment or cough up €20,000 per person refused. Imagine running a household where someone else decides how many guests you’re hosting for dinner. If you say no, you have to pay your neighbors to take them instead. That’s the EU’s idea of "solidarity."

The Migration Pact isn’t about solving the migration crisis; it’s about papering over the cracks. It doesn’t stop people from making dangerous crossings or address why they’re coming in the first place. It just shuffles the burden around, like a bureaucratic game of hot potato. Countries like Italy, Spain, and Greece, which are already overwhelmed, will still be overwhelmed. Countries that have done the heavy lifting during the Ukraine refugee crisis are now being told they’re not doing enough.

When Russia invaded Ukraine, Poland took in over 5 million refugees in a year. No enforced quotas, no fines. Just humanity (and quite a bit of logistics). Poland pulled it off without the social upheaval we’ve seen elsewhere. But what’s their reward? Criticism from Brussels for not being on board with this new scheme.

Europe’s Citizens Pay the Price

EU elites are busy pushing their vision of a borderless Europe, no matter the cost. They dress it up in the language of compassion, but there’s nothing compassionate about enabling the same broken systems that exploit vulnerable people and create chaos in the countries they arrive in. Brussels is prioritizing ideology over the safety and well-being of its own citizens.

Many of the 2015 Paris attackers entered Europe posing as refugees during the migrant crisis. They killed 130 people, including 90 at the Bataclan theatre. Another 416 people were injured, almost 100 critically. A year later, Anis Amri, a Tunisian asylum seeker, drove a truck into a 2016 Berlin Christmas market, killing 12 people. Rakhmat Akilov, an Uzbek asylum seeker, killed five in another truck attack in Stockholm the following year. Many such cases have occurred.

More recent examples include the June 2023 Annecy stabbing, where a Syrian refugee stabbed four children in a park, and the October 2023 Brussels shooting, in which a Tunisian national living illegally in Belgium killed two Swedish football supporters. In August 2024, a Syrian refugee carried out the Solingen stabbings, killing three people at a festival. In 2025, an Afghan asylum seeker injured 39 people in the Munich car attack, and another Afghan asylum seeker killed a toddler and a man, in addition to injuring three others in the Aschaffenburg stabbing.

Of course the majority of these migrants are not blood thirsty jihadis. But the correlation between mass migration and the increase in crime is undeniable. Take a look at the streets of Paris, the outskirts of Brussels, or parts of Malmö. No-go zones, rising crime, and communities struggling to cope. Are we seriously going to pretend that more of the same policies will magically make these problems go away?

A Smarter Path

The first part of solving this problem will have to be an admission from the European Commission that their commodification of migrants comes from their own cynical attempts to deny that some migrants are more desirable than others.

Europe needs to get real about migration. That means secure borders, deals with transit countries to stop dangerous crossings, and a clear distinction between genuine refugees and economic migrants. It’s not about closing the doors; it’s about opening them responsibly. The Migration Pact, as it stands, is destined to fail. Just like the mandatory quotas a few years ago, which fell apart because even the supporters didn’t follow through. The EU can keep pretending this is about unity, but are voters still buying it?

Either Brussels listens to the growing discontent from its member states and charts a smarter course, or this Pact becomes yet another reason people lose faith in the European project. Because when solidarity is forced, it stops being solidarity. And when borders don’t work, neither does Europe.

Alexandra Audrey Tompson

Editor-in-Chief | Lawyer (Admitted in New York; England & Wales)

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