Responsibility-sharing or shifting?

Policy Study

Implication of the New Pact for future EU cooperation with third countries

Strengthening cooperation with third countries on migration management will see renewed momentum as the New Pact on Migration and Asylum reforms enter the implementation phase.

Among other objectives, the reforms aim to enable quicker decisions on the admissibility and the merit of asylum applications through safe country notions, thereby facilitating readmissions and reducing irregular arrivals. These objectives are consequential for the EU’s and member states’ relations with third countries. If containment priorities and responsibil­ity shifting come to trump considerations about international responsibility-sharing, partner countries’ interests, and human rights compliance, the reforms may ultimately hamper the EU’s goal of achieving a more resilient and fairer asylum system, let alone policy objectives in other domains, especially foreign policy.

This study focuses on the implications of the New Pact reforms’ implementation for coopera­tion with third countries. Through an analysis of the Asylum Procedures Regulation (APR) and the Asylum and Migration Management Regulation (AMMR), the study advances forward-looking reflections for more balanced and protection-oriented cooperation with third countries that can also serve the EU’s broader strategic interests.