The new European solidarity mechanism: Towards a fair sharing of responsibility between member states?

For many years, the EU asylum system has been marked by an imbalance between member states' responsibility over asylum seekers based on the 'Dublin' rules and the provision of solidarity to coun­teract their effects. The recently adopted New Pact on Migration and Asylum reforms address this imbalance through a new mandatory but flexible solidarity mechanism as part of the Asylum and Migration Management Regulation (AMMR).

How­ever, despite this innovation, it remains to be seen whether the changed system around solidarity will be enough to overcome the systemic imbalances once the AMMR begins to apply in mid-2026.

This is because the minimal changes to the responsibility determination system left the country of first arrival principle intact, such that there is a risk that the reinforced solidarity provisions will not sufficiently alleviate the burden placed on member states.


Read the full paper here.