MEPs raise doubts if EU states will be ready for migration pact in 11 days

With just eleven days until the European Union’s landmark Pact on Migration and Asylum takes effect, member states are scrambling to meet the technical and infrastructure demands.

Adopted in April 2024, the bloc’s 27 member states have had two years to prepare sophisticated screening technology and juridical infrastructure for the pact on migration and asylum to come into play on 12 June 2026.

But with that date now little more than a week away, many EU members are simply not ready.

The pact “still requires significant work,” as it is “the most complex reform of EU legislation on migration and asylum ever,” Magnus Brunner, EU commissioner for internal affairs and migration, told MEPs on Monday (1 June).

The migration pact consists of 10 interlinked legislative acts, spanning border security, mandatory screening, and a unified asylum system.

But just 11 days left before the pact takes effect, Brunner noted that while 11 member states have fully set up the Eurodac biometric fingerprint database, the remaining 16 are still facing technical challenges. However, those 16 countries expect to resolve their issues by the June 12 deadline.

Brunner added that the majority of member states have reached “adequate capacity for the border procedure and also have already the facilities and the staffing which is necessary.”