People who reach the European Union and ask for asylum must by its rules be handled by the country where they first arrive. That puts the load on Greece, Italy, Spain and Malta, while most applicants want to go on to Germany, France or the north, and do. For ten years the members have argued over how to share that load, and whether Brussels may tell a country whom to admit. A new common system took effect in June 2026. Almost at once a crisis at Spain's African border tested it.
The wider dispute and each side's full account: The struggle over power inside the European Union.
Where it stands · September 2026
Five EU nations have agreed on a model to send rejected migrants to return hubs outside the EU as early as 2027. Denmark has announced plans to send migrants to return centres outside the EU by 2027. France has asked the UK to take in migrants from across the EU. EU capitals are considering changes to the migration pact. The EU has sanctioned Russian officials over the deportation of Ukrainian children.
What the dispute is about
Who takes whom. The new pact keeps the first-country rule and adds what it calls mandatory solidarity: every member must take some applicants, or pay twenty thousand euros for each one it does not take, or send staff and equipment. Border countries find that too little. Others refuse even that.
Who decides. Asylum law is decided by majority, so a country can be outvoted on who settles on its territory. Hungary and Poland voted against the pact and said they would not apply it.
What happens to those refused. Most applicants from many countries are turned down, and most of those turned down stay. The members now look to centres in countries outside the Union, and have opened talks on returns even with the Taliban.
